


I Found Love (Where it Wasn't Supposed to Be)

by peachgalaxy, Wheresarizona



Category: A Discovery of Witches (TV), All Souls Trilogy - Deborah Harkness, Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor (Movies)
Genre: A Discovery of Witches AU, ADOW AU, Alternate Universe - Magic, Bucky is really good with his fingers, Canon-Typical Violence, Canon-Typical Witch Torture, Chapter 5 is where we earn the M rating, Daemons, F/M, Falling In Love, Forbidden Love, Hurt/Comfort, Light Angst, Magic, Minor Carol Danvers/Maria Rambeau, Minor Character Death, Minor Peggy Carter/Steve Rogers, Timey-Wimey, Vampire drinking blood, Vampire!Bucky, Vampires, Witch!Darcy, Witches
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-31
Updated: 2020-11-10
Packaged: 2021-03-09 03:33:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 51,604
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27317818
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/peachgalaxy/pseuds/peachgalaxy, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wheresarizona/pseuds/Wheresarizona
Summary: Dr. Darcy Lewis is a historian studying alchemical manuscripts at Yale University. She also happens to come from a long line of witches, a side of herself she doesn’t like to acknowledge. After a chance encounter with a bewitched manuscript, her life is turned upside down. Witches, Daemons, and Vampires, want the book and the knowledge it contains.Enter Dr. James Barnes, a biologist, and vampire. He’s interested in the book but quickly feels a pull to Darcy.With Darcy and James’ lives becoming intertwined, it causes a conflict in the world of creatures.A story about love, magic, and the supernatural.An MCU, A Discovery of Witches AU that follows the events of the show and book.-COMPLETED-
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Darcy Lewis
Comments: 28
Kudos: 88





	1. Blood and Fear

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! This is our A Discovery of Witches AU fic. It follows the events of the TV show and some of the book, so if you've seen the show, you'll recognize a lot of the elements in this fic, we also borrowed some lines. We don't own anything, we just borrowed some of the elements from the show and book. We did change some things around and added characters. 
> 
> We have this entire fic written. 
> 
> This fic will cover the events of season 1. 
> 
> A Discovery of Witches is owned by Deborah Harkness and Sky One. We own nothing!

**_Webs._ **

**_Dust._ **

**_Webs and dust._ **

**_It’s all Darcy can see in this dream world she’s in. This had to be some weird nightmare. She shouldn’t have drunk so much in the pub with Quill after working in the library all day. It was messing with her mind._ **

**_Also, she never has been able to hold strong liquor._ **

**_Something skims across her arm, and it has her jerking awake._ **

The bells from the nearby Trinity Baptist Church echo against Yale University’s old stone buildings, making Darcy’s head ring. The bells stop after four gongs. 

_ Really? Another day of waking up at 4 AM? Luckily, I still get wired from coffee, or I’d be toast in front of the Yale faculty today.  _

She knows she won’t be able to fall back to sleep, so she might as well get up. She gets out of bed, making her way to the kitchen for her first cup of coffee. She sighs after the first sip, savoring the warm beverage. The dream is still fresh in her mind like it won’t let her forget about it. Darcy tries her hardest not to dwell on it, but it’s left her feeling uneasy and out of sorts. 

_ Maybe I should call Carol… _

She ponders it for a moment, grabbing her phone that’s charging on the counter. She unlocks the phone, then locks it again, deciding she will think about it as she goes for a run. She finishes her coffee in three sips before slipping on a pair of leggings and an old Yale hoodie. Darcy queues up her favorite running playlist on her trusty old iPod and sets out in the chilly September morning. 

Halfway through the run, she decides not to burden Carol with her dream. There didn’t seem to be an urgency to do so. She runs until the sun rises, enjoying the peacefulness of the campus at the early hour. Back in her rooms, she showers, staying in until the hot water is completely gone. The building was old but at least she had a modern shower and a radiator that only went on the fritz that  _ one _ time. 

Grabbing a brush, she glares at it to force it into submission before running it through her wet curls. Darcy’s hair has always been a problem for her. Aunt Maria says it’s probably because her suppressed magic is trying to find a way out since Darcy never used it. 

Which meant Darcy’s curly hair was virtually  _ untamable _ . 

After wrestling with her possessed hair for over fifteen minutes, she grabs up her presentation notes, and as she does, something falls from between the sheets of paper onto her desk. Darcy realizes it’s a photo of her parents. She sets down her notes, picking up the picture. Her parents are staring at the camera with smiles on their faces. It tugs at Darcy’s heart; she misses them dearly. The similarities between herself and her mother are astounding. She gazes at the picture for another moment, before gently placing it down on her desk. She picks back up her presentation notes, shoving them into her bag, and hurrying out to her bike. 

Darcy tosses her bag into the basket on her bike’s front and sets off to the hall. It’s not a long ride, it takes about ten minutes, and is much quicker than walking. Once she arrives, she begins chaining her bike up. In the struggle to get the chain around the wheel, the bike loses balance, falling over and upending her bag and its contents on the ground. Her notes fall out, scattering across the concrete. Darcy doesn’t think before she instinctively extends her arms as if to grab them. 

“Stop,” she whispers in frustration, arms outstretched. 

Her hands glow, and her eyes widen as the papers suddenly return to a neat pile in front of her, as if the wind just went in reverse. She gasps, looking around to make sure no one saw. Darcy quickly picks up the papers and puts them back in her bag, securing her bike without any mishaps this time around. 

_ Just don’t think about it.  _

———

The presentation was a hit. 

It was so enthralling that Darcy had been offered a chance to apply for a professorship. She couldn’t believe her luck. The only thing was they wanted her to complete her research by October, which wouldn’t be too difficult. Darcy had already planned on spending hours in the library anyway; she just now had a timeline. 

An old acquaintance of Darcy’s was in attendance at the presentation and asked her to coffee afterward. While Darcy had known Minerva Zhang for ten years, they weren’t super close, and with Minerva being a witch, it made Darcy a bit uneasy. Though, they stayed in touch and met up every once in a while. Plus, Darcy couldn’t pass up a chance to have more coffee. 

“Why don’t you come to the coven meeting tonight, Darcy? You should be with your own kind on Mabon”, Minerva says with a raise of her perfect eyebrow. 

Darcy swallows quickly, some of her latte going down the wrong pipe. Once she can breathe again, she sets her cup down, crossing her arms across her chest. 

“You know I don’t use magic. After what happened to my parents, getting mixed up with it still seems...like an insult to their memory, I guess.” 

“Why would it be an insult to them? It’s not like witches killed them.”

Minerva always had a scathing comment to counter Darcy’s expositions on her bad relationship with magic. It’s why she’s kept the other witch at a distance for the last ten years. Darcy smiles, but it’s not sincere.

“You go along without me and have fun for both of us. I’m sure you’ll have a great time.”

“Fine. But you’re more than welcome to join us.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” 

Darcy doesn’t waste any time. She takes the last gulp of her coffee, getting up quickly and grabbing her stuff. 

“Well, I have to get going. I have a lot of research to do!”

Minerva gives her a small, vicious smile. “Have fun.”

“I sure will, and you have fun at your, uh, thing.” She gives Minerva a wave before she hightails it out of there. Maybe coffee wasn’t enough for these talks. 

———

Darcy loves the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library on the Yale campus. The outside resembled an ice cube tray and the inside was spacious, with all the books in the center in a giant multi-story rectangular prism. But, the building was still charming in its own way. Darcy approaches the counter with a smile on her face, ready to face another day of glorious research. 

“Quill, my main dude. I have a list!” Darcy pulls her notebook out of her bag, along with the list of books she’ll need for the day. She’d been steadily going through the library's catalog for her research. 

“Awe, Darce. You always have a list. Lay it on me.”

“I need the  _ Ordinal of Alchemy _ , the  _ Art of Distillation _ , Isaac Newton’s notes on alchemy, and the  _ Alchemy Miscellany _ from the Takamiya collection.” 

Quill writes down the books on request forms. “I’ll be with you shortly!” He turns on his heel and heads into the library. Darcy went to the reading room and took up her spot at her corner table. There were a couple of others using the space. With school being out, the library wasn’t busy at all. It took Quill about twenty minutes to bring her the requested books. 

“Thank you!” She gives Quill a big smile. He smiles back.

  
“Anytime,” he calls as he heads back to his station.

The book perched on top of the stack has been rebound recently, within the last two hundred years, Darcy thinks. The  _ Ordinal of Alchemy _ isn’t a large book, but it’s by far the most intricately designed in the stack. The black leather is stamped with gold flourishes and shut tight with decorative clasps. It’s also extremely dusty like it hasn’t seen the light of day for a while. 

_ These clasps predate the year the book was rebound. They look medieval.  _

Darcy gently pops the clasps, breathing a sigh of relief when the brittle metal doesn’t fall to pieces in her fingers. Placing the book on the pillowed cradle, she pops on the cotton gloves she always has handy and opens the  _ Ordinal _ . The binding creaks and the scent of leather and old ink assaults Darcy’s nose. It was a smell she’d come to find comfort in. There is an inscription on the first page; one in ink, the other in pencil. After studying the words for a few seconds, she realizes the pencil inscription has anachronistic language. It sends a weird shiver down Darcy’s spine. 

_ Nope. Not gonna think about that. Just carry on. Not every weird occurrence connects back to magic. Some other researcher must’ve done that.  _

A sudden whispering echoes in her ears, and she shakes her head to dislodge the sound. But the whispering doesn’t go away. Determined to ignore it, Darcy gets out her notebook and pen, settling in to record information about the book in front of her. 

“Huh...strange…”

The book was missing three pages. Darcy records that, speculating the pages had been removed with a straight razor or scissors. Flipping to the next page carefully, a drawing catches her eye. It was the alchemical child but depicted in a way she’d never seen before. The baby floats in an upside-down vessel, gripping a flower in each hand; sliver on the left, gold on the right. 

_ Strange depiction of the alchemical child. Possibly drawn in the 13th or 14th century considering the coloring styles.  _

The whispering rises in volume as Darcy writes. She grits her teeth and clenches her pen tighter. This couldn’t happen now, not when she was in her safe space. A cracking noise, like the fizzle of electricity sounds, and all the electric lights in the Beinecke suddenly flicker before going completely out. Swallowing thickly, Darcy grabs her phone, turning on the flashlight and ignoring the oddness around her. 

The whispering is still in the back of her mind. 

She gently turns the page, a little disappointed the next page is empty. The book suddenly shimmers, and it has Darcy jerking backward. Looking around frantically, no one else seems to notice her distress. They’ve all just turned on the desk lamps and continued working like nothing was wrong. 

_ Chill out, Darcy. Just record what you can and return the book. You’ll just never take it out again. Find scans online and work from the comfort of your apartment.  _

Darcy intended to do just that until she notices words moving underneath the pages of the  _ Ordinal.  _ Against her better judgment, she brings her phone closer to illuminate the words. She can’t read them, they’re moving too fast, and it’s neither English nor Latin. An itch starts on Darcy’s lower arm, and she looks down, vaguely wondering if some kind of bug was there. 

But it wasn’t a bug. 

Words from the book were traveling up her arm in whorls and curlicues. The itch that accompanies them dulls though the words keep climbing higher on her skin. Dropping her phone to the desk, she smacks her hand over the drawing of the alchemical child in an attempt to do  _ something.  _ The words whip back down her arms at a rapid speed, returning to the book they’d come from. After the last word is back in place, a searing, burning pain shocks Darcy’s hand and has her stumbling backward, her chair falling over in her haste to stand up. Other patrons grumble and glare at her. 

“..I’m sorry..Sorry..” she whispers frantically, clutching her still smarting hand to her chest. 

Darcy doesn’t want to know what just happened, but she looks down at her right hand against her better judgment. An alchemical vessel has been burned into her palm, straight through the cotton of her protective glove. The lights suddenly flicker back on, and the incessant whispering cuts off abruptly. Heart thudding, Darcy slams the  _ Ordinal _ closed and gathers her things like the Devil was on her heels. She carries the books back to the call desk, putting the stack in the return section. 

“Darce?” Quill calls after her. “Dr. Lewis?” 

Darcy doesn’t turn around, ripping off her gloves and throwing them in a trash can near the library door. 

She hurries out into the autumn sunshine, walking as fast as possible. A man bumps into her shoulder, and she turns to apologize quickly, causing her to catch a quick glimpse of his face. His facial features don’t register as she keeps walking, her mind swirling with what just happened in the Beinecke. Suddenly, Darcy stops in her tracks, realization dawning on her. 

_ But that was…. _

“Dad?” She whispers to herself, eyes wide. 

She whirls around to see if he’s still there. She knows for a fact it had to be her father. But….he’s not where she had just seen him. She begins turning, looking all around. Where had he gone? 

“Dad?” Darcy says louder, this time. “Dad!?”

She’s a bit frantic now. First, the book and the weird magic, now she’s seeing her father? She feels like she’s going mad. 

_ What is wrong with me? _

“Darcy?” It’s not the voice she wants to hear calling her name. She turns back towards the doors, as Minerva seems to be rushing towards her, looking a bit panicky, which is odd because Minerva is usually the calm and collected one. “What just happened? Did you feel that? That was such a strong power surge. The humans didn’t notice it; I don’t think.” 

Darcy is barely keeping up with what Minerva is saying. 

“Darcy? Are you okay?”

Darcy doesn’t bother answering; she needs to get out of this place. She books it out of there as Minerva calls out her name. All Darcy cares about is getting home, getting someplace safe. 

———

**_The tarantulas were a new addition to the weird dreams. They crawled across Darcy’s nightstand, sitting on the pages of the Ordinal she’d left in the Beinecke. She curls in on herself, trying to hide from the arachnids as they inch closer to the bed, moving at a slower pace than their waking world counterparts. She suddenly feels one jump on her arm, and it has her jerking awake._ **

The Trinity Church bells ring the hour of four in the morning. Darcy’s head was pounding, and she was short of breath after the dream. Staring up at the ceiling, Darcy tries to slow her racing heart before she reaches blindly for her phone. She presses Carol’s number and sits up in bed, biting at the nails on her free hand. The phone rings four times before it’s picked up. 

“ _ Hello? _ ” Carol sounds like she’s just been awoken.

“Hey, Aunt Carol, it’s me.” Darcy feels terrible about calling so early, but she needs to talk to someone. 

“ _ Are you okay? It’s _ ,” Darcy can hear Carol move her mouth away from the phone as she checks the time, “ _ Four o’clock in the morning….? _ ”

“I’m sorry for the early call. Something’s happened.” There’s a sound of rustling on Carol’s end like she’s getting out of bed. Which would make sense; Carol wouldn’t want to wake Maria. 

“ _ What’s happened, jellybean? _ ” There’s concern in Carol’s voice. 

Darcy might as well rip off the proverbial band-aid or she’d never be able to. The memory of the  _ Ordinal _ has her anxiety spiking, and she swallows thickly before speaking. 

“I was studying at the Beinecke and took out an old manuscript, but there was something…...off about it. I think it might have been bewitched....”

“ _ Was it a grimoire? _ ”

“I don’t think so. It had alchemical illustrations. The book was really old, too.” 

“ _ Was there anything else in it? _ ”

“Uh, moving words on the pages. But I couldn’t read them. Three pages of it were also missing… And it burned me.” 

“ _ It burned you? Are you okay? _ ”

“Yeah, just on my palm.”

“ _ It definitely is bewitched then. Did you do anything to undo the spell? Say anything? _ ”

Darcy sighs, flopping back on the bed and scrubbing the remnants of sleep from one of her eyes. 

“You know I’m not comfortable with magic. I didn’t do anything. I just returned the book and left.”

“ _ You returned the book and left...? _ ”

  
“Of course I did! I didn’t want to be anywhere near it”, Darcy says through gritted teeth. It was too early in the morning for one of Carol’s lectures. 

“ _ Darcy, we’ve always told you if you come across magic, you need to try and understand it!” _

Darcy hears Maria in the background, asking what’s wrong. _ “It’s Darcy. She found some magical book. _ ” 

“Yes, I found a weird book. But that’s not the reason for my call. It’s what happened afterward.” Darcy takes a breath. “I’m pretty sure I saw dad.”

“ _ What do you mean, you saw William? _ ” Maria says Carol must have put the phone on speaker when Maria came to check on her. It doesn’t bother Darcy. She can use all the help to understand what happened. 

“He was walking into the library and looked exactly like how I remember him. What do you think this means?”

“ _ Darcy, we won’t know since you returned the book! You need to face the truth that you’re a witch! _ ” Carol sounds a bit frantic. 

“I’m not a witch, Carol! I am a historian”, Darcy nearly yells despite the early hour. Why couldn’t Carol understand that? She gets out of bed and starts pacing, her breath getting sharper and shorter. “And Yale might offer me a professorship.”

“ _ That’s great news, Darcy! _ ” Maria sounds genuinely excited. 

“It’s not for sure yet. I still have to submit a paper.”

“ _ Hold on a minute, Darcy! Stop trying to hide in your work! _ ” Carol sounds exasperated. “ _ You saw William. This could be something important! The book had to have been bewitched, and we don’t know how you unlocked the spell. You need to get the book back!”  _

“I don’t want to get the book back out! I don’t want anything to do with it, and I’d rather forget that I ever saw it. I called for advice, not for a magic book lecture.”

“ _ It’s okay, jellybean, Carol will now hang up the phone so that she can chill out. I’ll call you while I’m picking Monica up from school later today. _ ” 

Darcy releases a sigh of relief, trying to calm her heart and slow her breathing. She can hear Carol swearing in the background at unacceptable levels. 

“Thanks, Maria, I’ll talk to you later.” 

“ _ Talk to you later, sweetie. _ ” And with that, the phone disconnects. Darcy tosses her phone onto her bed and runs her hands through her hair. The conversation could have gone a lot better, but what did she expect? She didn’t want to think about magic or deal with it, and Carol disagreed with her choice. At least Maria was there as a buffer when the arguments got bad. 

_ Maybe a jog will clear my mind. _

———

Darcy isn’t going to let her experience in the Beinecke two days ago hold her back. All she had to do was avoid it at all costs. Use a different campus library for her research. 

Yeah, that’s what she’ll do. 

_ That probably isn’t healthy, but I’ve never been good at making healthy choices.  _

She rides her bike to Yale’s general library, enjoying the fall sunshine and letting the crisp air clear her mind. 

Before spending most of her time at Beinecke, she had done some studying at this library. It didn’t have as old of manuscripts as Beinecke, but it did have useful items that could help with her research. Since she’s back, Darcy might as well look over things she had previously studied that she wanted more information from. They were books she’d read and reread during college, but they were a comfort and what Darcy needed now was comfort and a sense of normalcy. 

First on her list is  _ Newton the Alchemist _ . This particular book was one of her favorites. She would love to meet Newton and have an hours-long conversation about alchemy and the processes within the subject. Why couldn’t she have dreams about that? 

Darcy knows precisely where the book is located. She makes her way to the bookcase, gazing at the spines of the books until she spots what she’s looking for. Of course, it’s on the top shelf. She looks around for a step stool to stand on to reach the book, but there’s nothing nearby. She reaches up anyway, trying to get to it, being stubborn as ever. Her fingers barely touch the shelf when she feels a presence behind her that is definitely not human. It feels like ice is crawling beneath her skin. An arm reaches up and easily plucks the book she wanted from the shelf. 

“Here you go.” They hand her the book, and she turns around to get a look at the creature. 

He’s handsome,  _ very handsome _ , and definitely a vampire. Her gaze trails over him for a second; He’s wearing a red Henley and perfectly fitted dark wash jeans. His hair is longer and pulled back from his face, in what Darcy assumes is a bun or ponytail. It takes Darcy a few seconds to make words come out of her mouth.

“Thank… thank you,” Darcy mumbles as she hugs the book close to her chest. She can see her fingers are sparking in the reflection of the vampire's eyes, and she takes a deep breath. The sparks fade as she calms down, relief flooding her chest. 

If he noticed the sparks, he doesn’t mention it. He gives her a lopsided grin. “You’re welcome. Say, you wouldn’t happen to be Darcy Lewis, would you?”

“.....I am. And you are, besides a vampire?” 

He chuckles. She can’t help but admit it’s a lovely sound. 

“Where are my manners,” He pulls out a business card case, withdrawing one and handing it to her. She hesitantly accepts it. 

Darcy reads the name on the card out loud. “Professor James Barnes, biologist…” Of course, he was a biologist. Vampires always leaned towards the sciences since they had the years to do the research.  _ Nerds _ . “Professor Barnes, what can I do for you?”

“Please call me James. I just wanted to say your article on color symbolism in alchemical transformation was absolutely fascinating. The work you did on Robert Boyle’s approach to problems of expansion and contraction was very compelling. You do a wonderful job of resurrecting the past for the reader.”

“Thank you.” Darcy can tell that this vampire wants something from her; he’s laying on the charm thick. But she won’t lie. She’s enjoying it a bit. Might as well milk it for all it’s worth. 

James’ eyebrows scrunch. “I thought witches weren’t allowed to show their magic in public?”

So he did see the firework show. Darcy sighs, looking away. “That was an accident. I don't use magic. At all.” 

“Are you not in control of your powers…...?”

Darcy’s head whips up, her eyes narrowing. “I am totally in control. Thank you very much. Now, if that is all, I do have work to do.”

She breezes past him, heading for the desk she had set her sights on when she first arrived. She takes a seat and sets down the book she had been carrying. Though, part of her wanted to get one more look at James. Darcy turns her head back but he’s gone. She looks around the library, though there’s no sign of him. It’s as if he were never there. 

_ Creeper. _

———

Darcy had been plagued by another weird dream the night before. Only, this time, it woke her up at a quarter past three in the morning. Her head was pounding, and she could hardly concentrate on the book in front of her. 

“Ugh, I’ll never get anything done this way.” 

She grumbles under her breath as she gathers her laptop and bag. The only thing that could help her now was a 747 from the coffee shop a couple of blocks away. Sweet, sweet espresso was calling her name. 

Once she is back in the warmth and the smell of coffee beans, she feels truly relaxed for the first time in days. She gets a wink from the cute barista, apparently named ‘Johnny,’ as she picks up her order. Darcy gives him a small smile back before hurrying towards the window. Her traitorous emotions wouldn’t let go of that arrogant vampire from the library yesterday, though. 

_ You may not be the most educated on other creatures, but you know he’s bad for you!  _

Darcy looks him up on Google anyway. She is a bit sad there isn’t much out there. 

_ I guess vampires do have to be careful about how they leave their mark on history, after all. _

Darcy is taking a sip of her drink when she hears, “Found anything interesting?” 

She just about chokes on her mouthful of espresso and quickly shuts her laptop. It’s the vampire. How had she not felt the tell-tale cold of his gaze? She turns to look at him, trying to internally compose herself. 

“Are you following me, Professor Barnes?” Darcy asks harshly. 

“We work at the same university. Is it that far-fetched that we’d cross paths again?” He gives her that crooked smile again. Darcy frowns. 

“I guess so…..” 

“Your reputation precedes you, actually. A lot of people know your name, especially here at Yale. Also, your picture is in the back of all of your books.” James shrugs. 

“Though that might be true, I checked with the staff at the library. You were only there for about five minutes. That means you were looking for something. Most likely, me. I want to know why Professor Barnes.”

“I’m just keeping an eye on you. A lot of creatures felt that…. _ disturbance _ a few days back at the Beinecke. You know that means they’ll be coming after you now.” 

“Are you threatening me?”, Darcy growls, fingers sparking no matter how tight she squeezes them together. 

“....No? I’m merely pointing out they’ll be drawn to you. You’re the first one to see that book in a long time.” 

_ How does he know about the magic book…?  _

“.....You  _ have _ been spying on me,” Darcy whisper-shouts, taking another spiteful sip of her drink. 

He runs a hand through his hair. “Well, uh. Kind of? But my main priority is the book.”

“Why do you care so much about this book? You don’t study alchemy. Unless the business card didn’t list all your achievements.”

James pulls out a chair next to her and takes a seat, facing her. “This has to do with a lot more than alchemy. Do you know where the manuscript is?”

Darcy’s eyebrows scrunch in confusion. Why is he asking where the book is? That’s a dumb question. “It’s at the Beinecke. You can’t remove books from there.” 

The look James gives her is wary like he doesn’t believe her. Like he thinks she still has it. 

_ Asshole!  _

“Well, if that’s all you wanted to ask, I need to get going,” Darcy says with steel in her tone as she begins packing up her stuff. “Have a great day, Professor Barnes.” She leaves quickly, not even able to finish her drink. 

———

Looking up at the Beinecke now reminded Darcy of a glass prison rather than a safe haven. But she couldn’t deny the materials kept in it were integral to her research. Taking a fortifying breath that does nothing to soothe her anxiety, she pulls her purple pea coat tighter against the autumn chill and walks toward the Beinecke doors. 

Darcy’s not sure how long she sat at her corner table, but the lights started flicking off automatically, which meant the library was closing. She sighs and shuts down her laptop. She didn’t get the amount done today that she wanted. There was too much on her mind. 

_ Vampires. Magic books. Seeing dad.  _

While walking up to the library’s front, she calls out to Quill, hoping he’d be free for drinks. 

“Sure, Doc! How about this time you do a Jaëger bomb in one sip! I can film you!” 

“Uh, definitely not. I have to work on the paper tomorrow”, Darcy snorts, following Quill out of the Beinecke into the autumn evening. 

Luckily, Quill is good at finding places near the Yale campus that the university students didn’t know about, so they’re practically alone in the bar, aside from a cluster of people at the back sharing three bottles of wine. Darcy orders their drinks at the bar while Quill commandeers them a table near the front window. 

“Angry Orchard for you and Pinot Grigio for me,” she happily says, as she puts the drinks on the table. 

“So, now that I’m familiar with what you read and what you drink, maybe I’ve gotten to the point where we can exchange stories about our families,” Quill winks, taking a hefty sip of his drink. 

Darcy laughs a little and takes a sip of her drink before speaking. 

“I guess that means I’m first. For starters, I was an only child. My aunt and her partner actually raised me. My aunt’s partner has a daughter they raised, as well, so she’s like a sister to me, more or less.” 

“That’s nice of them! What happened to your parents, though….?” 

Quill sounds borderline sympathetic, and it has Darcy clearing her throat and looking out the window before she speaks again. 

“My, uh, my parents were murdered while on a trip to the Ukraine-Russia border. The people in the village believed they were witches and took justice into their own hands.” 

Quill’s eyes widen, which makes Darcy snicker at his reflection in the window glass. 

“Both of them? Wow….I didn’t think people believed in stuff like that anymore. I’m so sorry, Darcy. You don’t have to tell me anything else. I probably made you think about some awful stuff.” 

Darcy looks back at Quill, taking another sip of her wine. 

“No, you’re fine. It’s been years, and it’s not like they’re completely gone. I still have my memories of them, pictures my aunts gave me, my mom’s old stuff. When I go home to Massachusetts, it’s like they’re still there, even if it isn’t physically.” 

Quill lets out the breath he was apparently holding. They both take sips from their drinks at the same time, and then Quill does what he does best, distracts Darcy by making her laugh with stories about his own crazy family, and the night ends on a positive note. 

———

“Here, give these to him, Peter.” 

It’s the first thing Darcy hears when she arrives in the Beinecke reading room bright and early. Quill adds three more books to his already impressive stack, walking slowly from the weight. 

“What’s going on?” 

“Oh, some hotshot biologist showed up an hour ago. He’s basically asked for every single book on science we have in the archives.” 

Quill grunts as he hefts the stack of books onto the table. 

“Here are the rest of them, Professor Barnes,” Quill huffs, sounding out of breath. 

The vampire murmurs a ‘thank you’ without looking up from the page he’s reading. Darcy freezes for a moment before narrowing her eyes and making her way to the table. This was  _ her  _ table. There were so many other places the good professor could’ve sat. Why did he have to sit  _ there _ ? 

“Good morning,” Barnes says as Quill walks away. 

“James Barnes. Didn’t expect to see you here”, Darcy says neutrally as she sets out her laptop and books in an arc so there is a barrier between her and him. 

Sighing, she scrubs at her eye before opening her laptop and clicking on the document for her paper. She was already having trouble concentrating again. 

“Is something bothering you, Dr. Lewis?” 

Darcy looks up, meeting Barnes’ eyes with a soft glare. 

“No, of course not. I’m just surprised you find the window seat comfortable. It’s sunny, you know”, Darcy makes sure her cotton gloves are situated correctly before opening the book nearest to her right hand. 

“...You don’t believe in all those vampire myths, do you” James whispers. 

All Darcy does is smile blandly before getting back to work. But it’s hard to concentrate when she can feel icicles spreading across her forehead. 

_ Why can’t he stop looking at me?! _

“Alright, then. I just thought you’d want some company. The library is busy today. Several creatures were here before me.” 

Darcy whips her head up, looking over the vampire’s shoulder before turning to look over the back of her chair. He was right. Every single person in the reading room was indeed a witch. Darcy could feel the odd press of their magic against her own. She meets Minerva’s eyes, who was sitting at the table behind her. Smiling lightly, Darcy nods at the other witch, but Minerva looks murderous. Turning back around, she rolls her shoulders back to dislodge her mounting anxiety. 

“See?” 

“So what? There are always creatures using the reading room. What’s the big deal,” Darcy was growing weary of James and his weird need to seek her out when she would rather he didn’t. 

“They’re here to watch, Dr. Lewis. I warned you other creatures would take an interest in you. They’re waiting to see what you’ll do.”

  
  


“No, they’re looking at me because we’re talking to each other! They aren’t causing any problems! You have the audacity-!” 

“Hey, can you keep it down,” an old witch grumbles from a nearby table. 

Darcy grits her teeth. She wouldn’t be able to work under these conditions. Slamming her laptop closed a bit forcefully, she gathers her belongings and stands, power walking towards the call desk. 

“Leaving already,” James asks. 

All Darcy does is send him another glare before she puts more distance between herself and James Barnes. 

———

Darcy hardly makes it out on the campus quad before Minerva has her cornered. The taller witch still has that murderous expression on her face, and she bodily drags Darcy behind some bushes before releasing her arm. 

“So, you don’t come to Mabon with the coven so you can get friendly with one of those leeches,” she whispers harshly. 

“Look, Minerva, I don’t know anymore about him than you do.” 

“Well, he seemed like he knew who you were.” 

“He just read my work and wanted to talk about it. My aunts always say not to chase admirers of my books away,” Darcy whispers back, matching the harshness in Minerva’s tone. 

“They hate us, Darcy! They’d rather kill us then fraternize with us. Maybe you shouldn’t go looking for trouble when your magic can’t protect you.” 

Darcy grits her teeth, inhaling and exhaling through her nose. What was Minerva’s problem? 

“He’ll probably be gone tomorrow, so get that stick out of your ass! You have no right to interrogate me like this. I  _ do  _ have work to do, so I’m going back to my apartment.” 

Pushing her way out of the bushes, Darcy heads for home, though she can feel Minerva’s glare on the back of her head for the rest of the walk home. 

———

After the events at the library earlier that day, Darcy felt a long run around the Yale campus would clear her mind and make her forget for a while. She must’ve made it at least two miles before she stops, resting her hands on her knees to catch her breath. Her jacket falls from around her waist as she makes her way to a water fountain. 

_ I’ll get that after I’ve consumed the nectar of the gods, aka this bomb water.  _

Standing up and stepping back from the water fountain, she suddenly feels the tell-tale icicles on her back. Whirling around, she locks eyes with James, who’s standing a few feet away from her. 

“You think it’s safe out here on your own, Dr. Lewis?” 

“.....Why are you here, Professor Barnes,” Darcy was too tired for another interrogation. 

James actually rolls his eyes and steps a bit closer. 

“I’m just pointing out that being on your own is a risk. So, the Book of Life, what did you do with it that day you took it out?” 

“What’s a ‘Book of Life’ ” Darcy frowns, confusion flooding her mind. 

“You're a witch, and you honestly don’t know about it,” the vampire looks incredulous, which makes it all the more confusing. 

“Okay, look, you saw my light show in the library. That was a fluke. I told you I don’t do magic.”

“It wouldn’t be good for you to lie to me,” he suddenly snarls, stepping closer. There were only two feet between them now. 

“If you want this book, you can go and get it, Professor Barnes. I told you I gave it back!” 

“I don’t believe you,” James suddenly growls, teeth bared. 

“Okay, so what if I did lie. What are you gonna do, Professor Barnes? Eviscerate me to get the truth,” Darcy was shouting, but she didn’t care. He was going to learn his little wild animal act wasn’t going to work on her. 

“I could. It’s not usually how I do things, but desperate times allow for desperate measures.” 

“Look, I don’t have the book, okay? You’re welcome to ask a librarian for it tomorrow morning, but I won’t be touching it again.”

Darcy storms past him, forgetting her jacket in her anger. 

“The  _ Ordinal _ has been missing for centuries. No other creature has found it. Aren’t you curious why  _ you _ were able to call it up so easily,” James calls back to her. 

Stopping in her tracks, Darcy turns to face him, ready to give him another piece of her mind. 

But she doesn’t get the chance to. 

Darcy swallows thickly when James picks up her jacket from where it fell. She’s about to demand it back when the vampire brings it to his nose, inhaling deeply. The soft light from the street lamps highlights how quickly his pupils dilate. His shadow shows how tense his body suddenly is. That low growling had to be coming from him. 

“....No sudden movements.” 

James doesn’t sound like a carefree biologist anymore; he sounds like a true monster. Darcy shivers, and she knows it’s not from the autumn chill. 

“Walk away from me slowly. If you run, it could end badly for you.” 

Slowly raising her hands in supplication, Darcy backs away, not about to turn her back on him. Once she reaches a nearby tree, she jumps behind it, heart pounding. 

When she peeks out, the vampire is gone, along with her jacket. 

  
  



	2. Chasing Rabbits

**_Darcy is trapped underneath her comforter and sheets. The harder she tries to wiggle free, the tighter she’s tied down. Finally, she gets a hand free and….it’s covered in spiderwebs. Darcy feels a skittering as if something rather large was on her legs, and she gasps sharply, trying to sit up. An ominous lump under the blankets has her gasping again, but she’s unable to get away or shake the lump off._ **

**_Suddenly, the blankets lift, and the largest tarantula that’s ever visited her dreams is staring at her, still binding her with its webbing._ **

The bells are ringing the hour of six am when Darcy’s eyes snap open. Her breathing is erratic, and she can still feel the webs and those furry legs on her body. Ripping the covers off, she runs into the bathroom and jumps into the shower, hoping the hot water will get rid of the eerie feeling.

After that whole fiasco, Darcy feels drained. She wonders if she can allow herself to skip a day of research. 

_ No...You shouldn’t. Don’t let these dreams scare you away from your passion.  _

With a sigh, she flops down in her desk chair, her robe not keeping much of the autumn chill off of her drying skin. Grabbing a bandage from the desk drawer, she wraps her burned hand. She snorts when she examines her piss-poor wrapping job. 

_ This is why you were never a medical doctor.  _

The weak sunlight glints off an embossed business card lying flat on her desk amid the other papers. Darcy picks it up, groaning internally when she reads the name. 

_ Nope. No, I’m not going to seek James out. He’s gone. He’ll never bother me again.  _

Throwing the card back on the desk, she gets up to prepare for the day, going for the hot, young professor look with a two-piece charcoal grey suit and her nice bra. Pleased with her appearance, Darcy heads out, passing her landlord on the way down the stairs. 

“Oh, Darcy, dear, I’m glad I caught you! There is something in your mailbox if you have time to check it before you leave.” 

Frowning slightly, she gives the old woman a nod and a ‘thank you,’ before heading towards the mailboxes right outside the door. Darcy’s breath suddenly lodged in her throat. Her purple jacket is lying nicely folded in her mailbox. It looks like it’s been washed and ironed; it also smells of clove and cinnamon. 

_ Doesn’t James kinda smell like that?  _

Shaking her head to banish the thought, she grabs her jacket and shoves it in her bag. Though, she can’t stop the small smile that spreads on her face as she walks towards the Beinecke. 

———

The first thing Darcy notices upon entering the Beinecke is how many people are there. 

_ No, not people. Creatures. _

It’s odd for the library to be as busy as it is since there aren’t any finals on the horizon. Darcy approaches the call desk; Quill is sorting some books when he glances up, a smile forming on his face. 

“Hey, Quill, sure is crowded.” Darcy looks around.

“I know, which doesn’t make any sense. Students can’t be this worried about finals yet!” Quill shakes his head as he grabs the manuscripts reserved for Darcy. “Here you go, by the way.”

“Thanks, Quill.” Darcy grabs the books.

“No problem, Darce.”

As she makes her way to her table, the creatures abruptly look up and stare at her as she passes their tables. It makes her uneasy.

_ Why are they all here? _

Her heart is starting to speed up. She hasn’t been in proximity with this many creatures since her aunts took her to an Imbolc festival when she was twelve. The few humans in the room are paying no attention to her, but the others are watching her intently. 

She’s taken out of her thoughts when she arrives at her usual table. Surprisingly, it’s completely unoccupied, even though the rest of the tables are taken. She takes her seat, getting her laptop out, and arranging the books. She glances around the room once more and notices a witch staring daggers at her from the other side of the Beinecke. Darcy gulps and drops her eyes to the floor. 

_ What’s her problem?  _

Darcy looks back to her laptop, grabbing the first manuscript she wants to look at. She tries her best not to think of all the other creatures, but she can feel them gazing at her. It makes her incredibly uncomfortable. 

She’s just opening the manuscript when someone approaches her table. 

“Dr. Lewis?” An older male voice says. 

Darcy looks up from her laptop, a bit confused that someone wants to talk to her. The press of his magic, an oily sensation, presses against her own, vanishing her confusion. 

_ A witch. _

“Yes? Can I help you?”

He’s uncomfortably close to her. Darcy tried to not make it super obvious she’s leaning slightly away from him. 

“I’m Alexander Pierce,” He looks around, “There aren’t usually so many creatures here, are there?” 

Darcy’s eyes narrow. “No, there usually isn’t.”

He leans in a bit closer, voice just above a whisper. “It looks like word has gotten out about the  _ Ordinal _ manuscript you had taken out.”

Darcy looks back at her laptop. “I’m sorry, I’m a bit busy right now. I also don’t have the book.”

He leans back from her, only a tiny bit. “It’s a good idea, hiding the book from other creatures. But I am here as a friend.”

Darcy scoffs. 

Pierce continues. “How about we discuss this over tea?”

“No, thanks.” She doesn’t even bother looking at him. 

_ The nerve of this guy! _

“Or do you prefer coffee, like your mom?”

Darcy’s eyes widen. Only someone close to her mom would know her distaste of tea. She looks back at him.

“You knew my mom?”

“I did. How about I tell you more on the way to the coffee shop?”

Darcy knows she should be skeptical of a strange witch, but he knew her mom. She can’t help but be curious about what this man might remember about her. 

“Okay. Let me just pack up.”

“No problem. I’ll wait.” He smiles at her.

———

The coffee shop is only a couple of blocks from the library. Darcy and Pierce are walking shoulder to shoulder. She’s very curious about what he knows about her parents. 

“Did you also know my dad?” 

“Only a little bit. Your mom and I go way back. I knew her when we were teenagers. She was really something. Powerful, too.”

Darcy can’t help the smile that blossoms on her face. 

“What was she like?” Darcy inquires. 

“Elizabeth was smart, passionate, and so stubborn. Once she got something in her mind, she wouldn’t let it go.”   
  
Darcy snorts, nodding her head in agreement. 

“It’s awful what happened to your parents.” Pierce turns to look at her. Darcy smiles softly, about to tell him not to worry but Pierce keeps speaking. “I wanted to check up on you and introduce myself, but your aunts are  _ very _ protective of you.”

“Yeah, they are.” Darcy sighs. 

The rest of the walk is quiet. Darcy lost in her thoughts, thinking about her mom and dad. She likes knowing that she shares some qualities with her mom, even if Darcy doesn’t want to admit she’s stubborn too. 

They arrive at the coffee shop and place their orders, then find a secluded table in a back corner away from others. Their drinks are brought out quickly, and Darcy takes a sip as Pierce watches her. 

“So Darcy, how did you get the book?” He takes a sip of his coffee, staring intently at her.

Darcy’s eyebrows furrow, “By requesting it from the call desk….How else would I get it?”

“That’s very interesting because I requested the  _ Ordinal _ this morning, and you know what they told me? That they didn’t have it.”

“What do you mean they didn’t have it?”

“They said it’s been missing. Their records show it’s been in the wind for years.”

Darcy’s eyes widen. “That can’t be right. I remember taking it out.”

“And you returned it..?”

“Yeah! Of course. I’d never take it from the Beineke or any book for that matter!” Darcy is shocked that someone would imply she’d steal. 

“No, of course you wouldn’t. Maybe it’s the date and the book only appears around the equinox? Or possibly a spell on the book, and only you were able to break it.”

Darcy scoffs. “I’m not my mom. My magical abilities are barely existent.” Darcy takes another sip of her coffee. 

“Do you recall what was in the book?”

“I only got a good look at one page.”

“What was on it?” Pierce sounds a bit excited. Darcy frowns, folding her arms across her chest. 

“.....An illumination.”

“Of what? Describe it to me.” 

“The alchemical child,” Darcy squints at Pierce, leaning back in her chair. 

_ What was Pierce trying to get out of her?  _

“There had to have been more. Writing? Anything? You must have seen more.” He sounds agitated now. 

“Why do you care so much?” Darcy stares him down. 

“Because, if it’s the book I think it is, it contains the witches’ first spells and could educate us on how witches created vampires.”

“Isn’t that just a myth..?”

“Vampires have become too powerful, they live too long, and they’ve attained too much control. If we created them, then we could un-create them.”

Darcy sucks in a breath, completely shocked by this turn of events.

_ What is wrong with this guy? _

“What is wrong with you? I don’t want anything to do with that!” Darcy starts getting up, but Pierce grabs her arm.

“You need to get the book out again. You’re the only one who’s been able to find it in years.”

“Let go of my arm! You’re out of your mind.” Darcy is making a bit of a scene. When people start staring, Pierce lets go of her arm. She storms to the front of the shop, eager to put distance between her and Alexander Pierce. 

“I’m sure we’ll be seeing each other again, Darcy Lewis.” 

Glaring over her shoulder, Darcy yanks the door to the cafe open and storms back to the Yale campus. 

———

“How’s life in the frozen tundra, Janey? Getting any good readings?” 

Darcy laughs when her friend snorts through the phone speaker. The oh so famous Dr. Jane Foster has been friends with Darcy since the two of them were in diapers. While Darcy had shown a talent for studying alchemy, Jane became obsessed with the stars and wanted to learn how the universe worked. It was also great both of them were witches and from the same coven so Darcy could talk about basically anything with her. 

Not that she would because she’s barely holding it together due to this magic book nonsense and being watched by Barnes. She didn’t want Jane to drop her research to come and fight every single creature in New Haven just to protect her. 

“ _We’ve gotten a few good ones pretty quickly, which is rare._ _Selvig has been documenting everything with pictures, so I’ll have to send you some. He also wants me to tell you he’s proud of you for getting the Yale professorship opportunity. Trying to understand alchemy makes him break out in hives, but you know he’d do anything if it supported you or me.”_

Tears prick in Darcy’s eyes, and she sniffles wetly, taking a long sip of her latte to give her a chance to gather her emotions. 

“Tell him, thank you, and tell him that I miss him. Also that I miss our wild jaunts in the desert at 4 A.M. and getting drunk on the roof of that Pinz we drove around in.” 

“ _ I will.”  _ Jane laughs before Darcy hears a muffled voice in the background. “ _ Oh, that’s my cue. Back to the frozen tundra, I go! See you soon in Danvers for your aunts’ wild Samhain activities!”  _

The audio clicks, signaling Jane has disconnected the call. Darcy sighs, wishing her best friend was here to tell her that everything would be fine. That no vampire, daemon, or witch was going to attack her for that book. 

Later that day, she finds herself in Minerva’s kitchen of all places, drinking the other witch’s coffee and eating all her cookies. 

“You know, Darcy, I just don’t see how taking out a book again would do you any harm? Pierce is in the Congregation. We can trust him.” 

_ Yeah, I thought I could too until that stunt he pulled in the cafe.  _

Darcy doesn’t mention that though, deciding to smile blandly instead. 

“You were in the library too, Minerva, you felt how powerful that book was. I don’t trust what Alexander Pierce will do with it. He made it very clear that he hates vampires. That doesn’t sit right with me.”

Minerva snorts, slapping Darcy’s hands away from the cookie tin. 

“It’s not our concern. Just give him the book and you can forget about it.” 

Something ominous pricks Darcy’s thumbs. She squints at Minerva’s back while the other witch is putting the cookies away. 

“You know, I don’t even know how Pierce knew I took it out. It’s strange…”

“Things of this magnitude don’t stay secret for long,” Minerva turns from the cabinet with a smile. But it isn’t a friendly one. 

“Well, anyway, I don’t want to have anything to do with this book, and I am  _ very  _ sick of creatures asking me to get it for them. I would like things to return to normal.  _ I  _ want to be normal.” 

“I’ve known you for ten years; normal is not in your vocabulary.” 

Darcy glares softly, taking a spiteful sip of her coffee. 

“I’d also like it if all the creatures invading the Beinecke would go away. Move on to greener pastures and other magical books.” 

“Is that vampire still following you around?” Minerva asks abruptly, her eyes doing that weird twitch they sometimes do. 

“Uh, no, I definitely think he’s given up on me.” 

“Good, you shouldn’t fraternize with someone outside your own kind.” 

Frowning, Darcy looks down at the dark liquid in her cup. She doesn’t  _ hate _ Barnes, but she had grown tired of his constant meddling. Shrugging, she looks back up at Minerva.

“I don’t know. He didn’t seem all that bad. He seemed to know a lot about the book, too,” Darcy mentally kicks herself. “I should’ve asked him to tell me more about it instead of telling him to leave me alone.” 

“You were right to. The fewer vampires around, the better.” 

“...Have you, I don’t know, ever talked to them? He didn’t seem to hate me when he came up to me.”

Minerva’s eye twitches again, and her beautiful features scrunch up in a scowl. 

“And you know that about him after one conversation? Get a grip, Darcy.” 

Scoffing before draining the rest of the liquid in her cup, Darcy stands and hooks her bag on her shoulder. 

“Sorry to leave so early, but I’ve got to get ready for one of the dean's boring parties. I’m also sorry I burdened you with all my troubles. You don’t deserve it”, Darcy says with a small laugh. 

“No worries. Witches can only trust other witches, so you were right to come to me. You should give Pierce a chance, too.” 

_ Yeah, that’ll never happen.  _

Darcy quirks her lips and waves to Minerva before heading out into the autumn afternoon. 

———

It was an unusually warm evening, which meant it was perfect weather for a run in the park near Yale. Darcy’s mind is clear for once, no anxieties about her current situation rearing their ugly heads. Slowing to a stop, she takes a deep inhalation of air as she closes her eyes. On the exhale, she opens her eyes again, jerking backward from the person now standing in front of her. 

“Oh, what did you do to your hand,” the woman grabs Darcy’s wrist to examine the burn scar from the  _ Ordinal.  _

“Nothing….” 

Darcy jerks her arm out of the woman’s hold. The gentle press of magic against Darcy tells her this is another witch. Wait...after getting a good look, this particular witch looks familiar…

“I know you! I saw you at the Beinecke.” 

The woman smiles viciously. 

_...I don’t like that look. _

The woman begins to whisper words under her breath, and her eyes roll back into her head. Darcy takes a big step back. What on earth was this witch doing?

“Hmm...someone did something to you...No, wait...You did it to yourself. Interesting.”

Darcy doesn’t like the tone in the woman’s voice like other witches were playthings for her. Quickly walking past the other witch, Darcy swallows back her mounting anxiety. The witch could only be after the book, right? 

“Do you fear being persecuted?” 

Stopping abruptly, Darcy turns back around and stalks toward the woman. 

“I haven’t until now! You were with Pierce, so you can tell him I won’t get out his book.” 

The witch tilts her head to the side, giving Darcy a questioning look. 

“But it’s not just about the book. It’s about you, too.” 

_ No, I’m not getting caught up in this creature pissing contest today.  _

Turning away without another word, Darcy storms away, hands clenched in fists. 

“I’ll be seeing you again, Darcy Lewis.” 

_ Like hell, you will.  _

———

Darcy is sitting on her couch, flipping her phone around in her hand, biting her lip. She still has an hour before the Dean's party, and everything is weighing heavily on her mind. She doesn’t want to bother Maria with what is going on, but with what happened in the park and at the coffee shop, she needed more information, and she hoped Maria had it. 

Darcy unlocks the phone, scrolls to Maria’s number, and dials. Maria picks up on the second ring with a  _ “Hey Darcy!” _

Darcy smiles. 

  
“Hey, Auntie Maria. Um, I wanted to find out if you knew a person. Well, a witch, actually.”

_ “What’s their name?”  _

“Alexander Pierce.”

_ “Ah, Pierce. Is he in New Haven?”  _

“Yeah. Do you know who he is? He said he knew my mother.”

_ “Oh yeah. He had a thing for her.” _

_ Of course, he did. _

“I definitely got that vibe.”

“ _ He was super against her marrying your father. He was so obnoxious, trying to get her not to. _ ”

“Did my mom like him?”

“ _ Friends as teenagers, but then he got involved in some things she wanted no part in. _ ”

That piques Darcy’s interest. She sits up straighter. “What kind of things?”

“ _ Dark magic. _ ” Darcy’s eyes widen. “ _ I don’t get why Pierce would be in New Haven. _ ”

Darcy sighs. “It’s because of that book. He wants me to get it for him.”

“ _ Hmmm, your parents didn’t trust him. Not in the slightest. Keep your guard up around him and just be careful, Darcy. I don’t think he has good intentions. _ ”

“Yeah, that’s definitely true. Thanks, Maria. I have to get going to a party, but I’ll try to call you soon.”

“ _ No problem, have a nice night, jellybean. _ ”

“You too.” 

Maria hung up. Darcy locked her phone and tossed it beside her. She wasn’t surprised Pierce was involved in dark magic. He was a bad dude and it would be best to avoid him at all costs. She chewed on her thumb. 

_ Why is all of this happening to me? _

———

The Dean’s party is being hosted at the Schwarzman Center, near the manuscript library. The center is a lovely building with Roman columns arranged in a circle on the building’s front. Darcy straightens her blue suit jacket before entering the building, seeing it already filled to the brim with other Yale academics. 

“Dr. Lewis! It’s so good to see you!” 

A short, bird-like man approaches her with a smile and a wave. 

“Thank you for inviting me, Professor Willis. I’ve never seen Schwarzman so full outside of term before.” 

Willis laughs again and waves away her comment. 

“So, I heard you gave an excellent talk and that you are writing it up.” 

Darcy blushes from the praise, “Yes, I certainly am.” 

“I look forward to reading it! We want to get you on that shortlist.” 

“Thank you, Professor Willis,” Darcy says with a beaming smile. 

“Now, there is someone I would like you to meet. He has a very interesting specialization - the occult sciences,” Willis rattles on as he gently takes Darcy’s arm, pulling her deeper into the Schwarzman. 

Darcy freezes when Pierce is suddenly standing in front of her. Willis has let go of her arm and wandered off further into the academic crowd. Pierce gives her a warm smile, but it doesn’t reach his eyes. Darcy swallows thickly before grabbing for a glass of champagne from a nearby table. 

“Alchemy. It’s quite a subject for someone who says she lacks interest in magic.” 

Darcy sips at her champagne before speaking. 

“It’s not just lack of interest. I lack the ability.” 

“Hmm, are you sure? The book only appeared to you and no one else.” 

_ Why can’t I escape this damn book?  _

“I told you that I don’t know how that happened or why it was me, okay?” 

Pierce purses his lips, “You failed to mention a vampire has also been following you.” 

Darcy steps back and meets Pierce’s eyes. Was he following her around, too? Or was it that witch from the park she’d seen? 

“...How do you know that?” 

“It would be catastrophic if it falls into their hands. They would use it to destroy us. Can’t you see the danger you’re in?” 

“I can take care of myself,” Darcy mutters haughtily, taking another sip from her glass. 

“How naive. Now that vampires have sniffed you out, this makes getting the book for me that much more urgent.”

“I’m not going to get it for you. I don’t know how many times I have to say that before you believe me.”

Pierce grits his teeth. 

“And why ever not?” 

“Because I don’t happen to jive with the idea of unmaking other creatures, Mr. Pierce. I’m like my mother when I’ve made up my mind; I don’t change it,” Darcy needs to get out of here. The air was becoming stifling. 

Turning away, Darcy deposits her half-empty champagne glass on another table as she heads back the way she came. 

_ “Darcy! Think about what you’re doing.”  _

Darcy stops abruptly, eyes widening. She turns back to face Pierce, silently begging him to get out of her head. 

_ “You must be true to your blood, your heritage. I wouldn’t want to force you to recall the book.” _

Darcy’s features morph into a murderous glare before she pushes the rest of her way out into the autumn evening. She starts down the sidewalk, keeping her hands clenched into fists. 

_ “Darcy. Don’t walk away!” _

Stumbling over a crack in the sidewalk, Darcy puts a hand to her head from the pain of being invaded by Pierce’s magic. 

_ “I can be with you wherever you are. I need the book.”  _

She locks eyes with the other witch through one of the windows of the Schwarzman. Her breath is shaky, and, when she looks down at her hands, she sees them lighting up from the inside, her fingertips sparking. Looking back up, she meets Pierce’s gaze again, teeth clenched and head throbbing. 

_ “GET OUT OF MY HEAD,” _ her mind screams. 

The glass on the window Pierce is standing in front of suddenly shatters. He barely escaped getting cut. The blast, luckily, didn’t attract any human attention due to the late hour. Breath coming sharply, Darcy turns to head back down the sidewalk, hands still alight and sparking. She doesn’t let herself cry until she’s back in her apartment. 

———

Darcy needed to talk with someone about what had happened the night before. She tried calling Minerva, but the other woman wasn’t picking up. She didn’t live too far away, so she made her way to Minerva’s place. Darcy felt fidgety and exhausted, sleeping horribly the night before. She’d never used that kind of power, and it honestly scared her. She didn’t know that she could do that.

She knocks frantically on Minerva’s door. 

_ Please be home. Please be home… _

She heard footsteps approaching. Darcy let out a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding in when Minerva opened the door. Darcy noticed Minerva looked a bit surprised that she was on the doorstep.

“I’m so glad you’re here!!” Darcy exclaims, “I tried calling. I…” She stops when Pierce walks into the hallway behind Minerva. Darcy’s blood runs cold the moment she sees him, face going pale. 

_ I need to get out of here. _

“Darcy, wait-“ Minerva begins. 

Darcy doesn’t say anything. She turns on her heel and rushes away. The walk back to her apartment is a blur. Why was Pierce at Minerva’s? Why did she keep running into that horrible man? Darcy feels sick. Thoughts are rushing through her head, previous conversations she had with Minerva. Realization dawns on her, Pierce knew she took out the book because Minerva had told him. Emotions overwhelm her as tears start streaming down her face. Other witches have treated her poorly. But there’s been one person who has shown her care and looked out for her during this mess.

Darcy rushes to the front of the halls, approaching the desk.

“I’m looking for Professor James Barnes’ rooms, please.” The man at the desk checks his computer and gives Darcy a room number. Darcy makes her way down the halls until she finds the room she’s looking for. She takes a deep breath before knocking on the door. She waits, putting her ear up against the door to listen for movement. There’s no sound. Disappointment comes over her. She slowly steps away from the door and turns to start heading down the hall. She stops abruptly. At the end of the hall is James, staring at her intently. Darcy feels relief and smiles at him. He gives her an adorable lopsided grin.

“Hi.” She sounds a bit breathless.

“Hi. Hey, are you okay?” James slowly approaches her.

“I need to talk to you. Can we go someplace private?”

“Sure, let’s go into my rooms.” 

James quickly moves past her and unlocks the door, “After you.” Darcy walks in. She notices books are everywhere. The living room walls are covered in bookshelves. James follows her in, closing the door behind them. “Please have a seat.”

Darcy realizes the only chair in the room is at a desk near the window. She pulls it out and faces it towards James. He seems to be keeping his distance from her, but he watches as she gets settled. Darcy stares at him. She’s nervous now that she’s actually with him, her heart beating rapidly. “So, you were right about creatures wanting the book. Alexander Pierce and this other witch have been following me. Both have been  _ very _ threatening.”

James takes a deep breath and looks away from her. “Try to uh, calm down. Your adrenaline is very high.” He says it softly. 

Darcy’s eyes widen. “You… you can smell that?”

“Yes.”

Darcy closes her eyes and takes some calming breaths to get herself under control. 

James looks back at her. “Thank you. So, why did you come to me? Our last encounter wasn’t… great.”

“I have no one else to talk to that would understand.”

“You’ve gotta have friends?”

“Apparently none I can trust.” Darcy is starting to feel stupid for coming here. She gets up from the chair. “You know what? I shouldn’t have come. I’m sorry I bothered you.”

“Wait, Darcy. Does Pierce want the book?”

  
“....Yeah. He won’t stop bothering me about it. He claims it has the witches’ first spells. Is that what you think, too?”

“Alexander Pierce is full of himself and thinks witches created everything. I don’t think that one bit. Is he aware that you returned the book?”

“Yes. I made it very clear that I returned the book. But he won’t stop asking me to get it again.”

James’ eyebrow raises, “Are you going to help him?”

“Absolutely not. I don’t want him to have the book at all.”

James walks to a bookshelf on the far wall and grabs a book from the top shelf. He turns around and offers it to her, Darcy hesitantly taking it. She opens the cover and reads over an inscription on the first page. She’s surprised by what she reads.

“You knew Charles Darwin?” She knows she sounds a bit excited. She gingerly hands the book back to James. She curses the fact this was the one day she forgot her cotton gloves. 

James smiles. “Yes. We met on several occasions. I wondered if he was on to something and if it might help uncover the origins of all of us. Though creatures have always spoken about an alchemical text that was hidden from humans that might have answers.”

“The  _ Ordinal of Alchemy _ .” 

“That’s right. But I’ve read everything possible and never got any closer to a precise location.”

Darcy thinks about it for a second. “You’ve been looking for this book since, what? 1859? Wait, how old are you?” Darcy blurts.

James chuckles. “A lot older than I look.”

“So, 200 years?” James smiles at her and shakes his head, turning away to put the book back on the shelf. “500?” He shakes his head again. “Did… did you know Machiavelli?” James snorts. “Survive the fall of Carthage?”

“You’ll have to be more specific. There’s been multiple.” Darcy’s shocked. This vampire is very, very old. He had so much knowledge, and she desperately wanted to pick his brain. 

James suddenly turns to face her, a playful glint in his eyes. 

“Would you like to come to my lab? We’re researching creature origin that I think you’d find interesting. Absolutely no harm will come to you, I promise.” He puts a hand over his chest and bows slightly.

Darcy trusts him and can tell he’s being sincere. She nods her head. “Okay.”

James walks over to a coat rack, grabbing a jacket, then approaches her. “Why don’t you put this on? You’re probably very cold.”

_ Can he smell that too? _

“How can you tell?” She allows him to help her into the coat and it smells like him: clove and cinnamon. Darcy is beginning to enjoy the smell. 

“Well, adrenaline causes a rise in metabolic heat production. Since your adrenaline has decreased, so has your heart rate.”

“You can hear my heart?”

“.....All the time.”

Darcy’s breath catches. He listens to her heartbeat. She tries to stay calm, but she doesn’t do an excellent job of it. 

_ No big deal. He can smell my adrenaline and hear my heartbeat. That’s… normal.  _

———

The lab James takes her to is pretty unassuming. It didn’t look like the futuristic paradise she was expecting since the walls were made of rough-hewn stone more suited for a much earlier time. There were modern amenities, though. Numerous desktop computers dotted the room on various desks along with test tubes, needles, and other medical equipment.

“There are a lot of labs studying genetics, but, of course, humans aren’t the only creatures we’re studying.”

“So….You’re studying vampire genetics?”

James nods, “Daemons and witches, too. Though most of the non-vampire samples are degraded due to their age, we do extract what DNA we can.”

Darcy stops at one of the desks, running her fingers along a printout of DNA evidence labeled ‘Peter Parker.’ She doesn’t realize another person has come in until she feels the tell-tale ice underneath her skin. There was another vampire in the lab. Looking up, it’s actually two vampires—a redhead with flawless features and a raised eyebrow accompanied by a younger boy with dark, trusting eyes.

“Hey, Bucky,” the boy says, waving jovially.

James takes a subtle step closer to her, but there is a small smile on his face.

“Peter has been helping me while you’ve been away,” the redhead intones, looking Darcy up and down. A frosty feeling travels across her cheeks. 

“Darcy, this is Natasha. She and I have run this lab for a long time, and she’s amazing at what she does. Nat has always liked being in charge, so I made her lab manager in 1929.”

Darcy nods her head in Natasha’s direction, but the redhead’s expression stays neutrally judgemental.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” Darcy says, taking a step forward with her hand outstretched.

“And I’m Peter Parker,” the boy says, taking Darcy’s hand and shaking it vigorously.

Peter suddenly pulls Darcy close, inhaling softly. She feels James step closer at the same time, his hand hovering near her waist. Peter locks eyes with James before stepping back to an acceptable distance, dropping her hand.

“Wow, AB Negative. I don’t suppose I could take some of your blood, could I? It’s hard to get a sample from a living witch, but now-”

“No!” Darcy coughs, “I mean, no, thank you.”

“If your friend isn’t here to give blood, then what is she here for exactly,” Natasha says accusingly, perfect mouth twisting in a frown.

“I wanted to show Darcy what we’ve been working on. The work that proves creatures are slowly dying out.”

Ice suddenly spreads under Darcy’s skin and it’s not just because three vampires are looking at her. She locks eyes with James, folding her arms across her chest.

“What do you mean, ‘dying out,’” she asks, but she’s not sure she wants to know.

“Well, vampires are failing to sire, daemons have higher chances of becoming insane, and-”

“And witches?”

“....Witches are losing their powers...Come and see.”

James leads her to one of the computers that looks like it might be the one he uses in the lab. It’s covered in little sticky notes in that scrawl that she could believe was his. Also, there were numerous books on genetics stacked beside it. That was probably some kind of lab hazard, but she wasn’t the scientist.

“Please, sit down,” James pulls out the chair for her, and it has her blushing.

_ God, acts of pre-modern politeness still make all the girls swoon, even you. _

“Th-Thank you,” Darcy sits down, catching the spicy scent permeating the seat cushions.

Footsteps behind her tell her Natasha and Peter have moved to other stations in the lab, Peter humming softly as he messes with something made of glass.

“Now, this DNA is from a witch that lived in Europe in the 7th century. Her DNA markers tell us she was extremely powerful. But,” James clicks, and a different chart appears on the screen, “ this DNA belongs to her last known direct descendant. There are much fewer markers common in witches, which means the magic diluted over the centuries.”

“How could the magic have diluted?”

Darcy turns to look at the vampire next to her. Their eyes lock, and she can’t bring herself to look away. Luckily, James doesn’t either.

“It means over the years, the witches in the family stopped relying on their powers. The readings only seem to point us in one direction: one day, witches will die out.”

Swallowing thickly, Darcy nods, turning back to look at the screen when James does. 

_ What will happen when there are no more of us left? _

———

Darcy and James are heading back to her apartment, the path lined by trees. It’s a beautiful day, and the trees are beginning to change color. Darcy takes a deep breath of the crisp air, thinking over what James had said about creatures dying out. 

“So, you think the  _ Ordinal _ can help with your research.” Darcy looks over to James. He keeps his eyes on the path.

“I believe that it holds the secrets to our origins, so yes, it could definitely help with my research.” 

“But there are currently a lot of creatures in the world. It’s not like they’re going extinct tomorrow. Why the rush,” Darcy looks at him expectantly. He meets her gaze. 

“Time moves differently to me, to all vampires really. Humans use the same argument when talking about climate change; it’s not going to happen tomorrow, so why bother? The Thames used to ice over every winter,” He smiles at her, “We used to skate on it.” The image of a vampire ice skating causes Darcy to smile wide. James runs a hand through his hair, “What I’m trying to say is it might not be happening immediately, but it’s started, and if we don’t do anything, one day there would just be humans. And look at them. They wouldn’t notice at first, but over time, they’d see that the magic has just vanished. It sounds like a miserable world.”

Darcy takes a moment to collect her thoughts and think over what James has said. 

“Do you think that I should use my powers?” She asks hesitantly.

“I think you should try and not be scared of them. They’re a part of you.” He gives her a small smile. “From my experience, the world is fueled by two emotions. Desire and fear.” They’re approaching the door to the apartment entrance.

Darcy nods in agreement. “My aunt has always said magic is desire made real.” They stop at the door. 

“I like that.” James looks at her for a moment, tucking his hands into his pockets, “I suppose I’ll be going now.” He turns. Darcy doesn’t want him to leave, though. She wants to keep talking to him. 

“The book is a palimpsest!” She blurts. James slowly turns back to her. “There were old words hidden under new.” James slowly approaches her, like he doesn’t want to spook her. Darcy rambles on. “The book was heavy and had a weird smell. Three pages had been cut out by a razor or something super sharp. But the only page I got a good look at had a baby floating in an upside-down vessel. The alchemical child. But the way it was drawn was strange and not how it’s usually portrayed.” 

James' face lights up, giving her a smile that makes her feel like she’s melting. “Thank you.” He carefully grabs her hand, bringing it forward with her wrist up. She watches as he bends over, placing a gentle kiss to her skin. Darcy sucks in a breath at the contact, her heart racing. James stares at her wrist as he straightens to his full height, before looking her in the eyes. He nods, then slowly backs away. Her thoughts are racing. She clutches her hands to her chest and lets out a sigh. 

_ I feel like a repressed Victorian woman.  _

Darcy chuckles to herself before heading into her apartment. 

  
  



	3. Revelations

Darcy slept surprisingly well for the first time since everything had started happening. Strange dreams or the bells didn’t wake her. Instead, she had pleasant dreams that had her waking up to the feel of phantom kisses on her skin. She gets up, going through her morning activities to prepare for a full day at the Beineke. She makes her way to the front doors of the hall and notices a figure standing just outside. Darcy could recognize those shoulders anywhere. She walks out the door; he slowly turns towards her upon her approach. 

  
“James! What brings you by on this beautiful morning?” Darcy smiles at him. 

“I was wondering if you were planning on going to the library?” He gives her that smile that causes butterflies to erupt in her stomach. 

“Yeah. I still have so much work to do.”

“Well, you shouldn’t go. Creatures everywhere and not an empty table in sight. They’re all waiting to see if you can get the book again.” Darcy frowns. 

_ This was supposed to be a good day. _

“I was thinking, maybe you would like to spend the day with me instead?” James continues. 

Darcy’s about to answer when someone calls, “Darcy!” Heels clack across the pavement as they approach; It’s Minerva. James turns to stare at the new arrival. Minerva stops a distance away, glaring at James. “Can I speak with you, Darcy?”

Darcy gives James a look and sighs, mentally preparing for the conversation as she walks over to the other woman, her blood already beginning to boil.

“Darcy, I feel like I owe you an explanation as to why Alexander Pierce was at my home,” Minerva says coolly, glancing over to James to glare at him again. Anger bubbles over. 

“You told Pierce about the book!” Darcy’s voice rises. 

“No, I told a superior member in the coven.” 

Darcy’s eyes narrow. “I trusted you.”

“It’s not like you haven’t been keeping your own secrets. Using magic to get a step up.”

_ What is she talking about? _

“Did Pierce say that?” 

“He’s a good witch and a member of the Congregation. He’s worried about you, and so am I.”

Darcy shakes her head. This was unreal. Pierce only cared about himself, and Minerva… Darcy doubted she cared about anyone. 

“You have no reason to worry about me.” Darcy spits out.

“You might be angry with me, but that doesn’t mean you need to spend time with that  _ thing _ .” Minerva points to James. 

Darcy seethes. She’s done with this conversation. Pushing past Minerva, she heads towards James, who is standing by his car now. He starts to open the passenger door for her. 

“I can open my own door!” Darcy tugs it the rest of the way open before getting in. James doesn’t fight her. He goes to the driver’s side without a word. 

———

The car ride is silent, Darcy staring out the window, still upset from the encounter with Minerva. She can feel James looking at her occasionally. It takes her a bit, but Darcy finally cools down, catching James' eye. She’s curious as to where he’s taking her. They were heading to the outskirts of New Haven. 

“Where are you taking me?”

James grins. “My house.”

“Interesting. That’s the last thing I expected you to say.” 

“I’ve always enjoyed the quiet that comes when there are no drunk college students about,” James says in true long-suffering professor fashion. 

“That’s a valid point. I can’t wait to see what it looks like,” Darcy smiles at him.

They weave up a long driveway that has tall trees on either side. Anticipation grows when they get to a gate. James gets out of the car to unlock it. He gets back into the car and continues the drive. Darcy was expecting a simple house, nothing fancy, but then there’s a break in the trees, and Darcy gets a glimpse of James' home. 

“Oh my god.” She breathes. 

It's not a house. It’s a mansion. A big mansion that had the appearance of being made of stone with two turrets and lots of windows and it looked old. The front door was under a beautiful stone arch. It was breathtaking. 

“Calling this a house is an understatement. It’s practically a castle.” Darcy looks to James. He chuckles like he knows something she doesn’t.

“It’s definitely not a castle.”

They get out of the car and make their way up the stone steps. James unlocks one of the giant doors, then pushes it open. 

“After you.” 

She walks in, marveling at the architecture. 

“You have this house, but you stay at Yale?”

“Too long of a commute. But I occasionally come back here.”

“I would never leave this place.”

James laughs, gently touching Darcy’s shoulder. 

“Let me show you around.” 

He takes her into a living room, opening the large thick curtains to let light into the space. The furniture is all very old and antique looking. It looks as though it’s been around for hundreds of years, and honestly, with how old James is, Darcy wouldn’t be surprised if it is.

“It’s like a time capsule.” 

“Humans get suspicious, so I’m not able to stay in the same place for too long. I left it for a while, but I’ve come back over the years. I’ve updated it with new inventions, like plumbing and electricity.”

Darcy notices a large painting of a beautiful woman. The dress and hairstyle on the woman looks to be of the Tudor era. 

“Who’s that?” Darcy asks, turning to James. 

“That’s my sister, Rebecca.”

  
“She’s beautiful.”

“She’ll appreciate you saying that.” 

Darcy’s brows furrow when a thought crosses her mind.

“Did you have to change your name?”

“Yes. Many times.”

Darcy finds that a bit sad. James takes her through more rooms. 

“What’s your real name?”

“Brant. Séamus Brant.” 

“You’re Irish?” Darcy smiles. She’s enjoying learning these little things about him. 

James raises an eyebrow at her, a warm smile on his face. “You ask a lot of questions.”

Darcy laughs. “I’m a historian. What did you expect?” 

James chuckles. “That’s true. Uh, I took my mother’s name when she sired me.” They approach a magnificent staircase and begin heading up. James continues. “My mother lived in Ireland, with her husband, my step-father, George. He passed away.”

“He died?” Darcy had never heard of a vampire dying. They seemed to live for years and years. 

James gives her a look over his shoulder. “We can be killed... If you try hard enough.”

They stop on the second floor, and James leads her into a library. There are so many books; Darcy is itching to get her hands on them. James goes to a shelf pulling out a massive tome. 

“I think this will interest you.” Darcy takes it and makes her way to an ornate desk near a large window, setting the book down carefully. She opens it, reading over the first few pages. James sets down a few more books as she reads. 

“Wait, were you an alchemist?” She looks up from the book to find James, now seated on a couch watching her. 

“No. I got those from my brother. He found it all very fascinating, the whole science with magic, magic with science thing. Not sure how that’s supposed to go.”

“Me, either.” Darcy continues reading the book, enjoying the illustrations. Her historian’s brain had kicked in; her need to learn everything possible from the books. They’re silent for a bit as Darcy reads. James had gotten a glass of wine at some point. 

“Did… did you cast a spell to get the book?”

Darcy frowns but stays focused on the page she’s reading. “No. I’m not good with spells.” 

“Hmmm,” James gets up from the couch and starts walking towards her, wine in hand, “Maybe the book was hidden by a protection spell, and it just so happened you somehow met the conditions to nullify the enchantment.” He stands close to her and goes to take a sip, but at the last moment, shoves the wine at the open book in front of Darcy. Sparks erupt from Darcy’s fingers, causing the book to slide across the desk out of reach of the wine as it spills where the book once was. 

“What is wrong with you?” Darcy shouts, hands now protectively covering the book. 

“I knew it.” James sounds fascinated. Darcy doesn’t understand what is going on. He could have ruined the book! “You have instinctive magic. It only comes out when you need it. What did you need that day in the library? You needed the  _ Ordinal  _ for your research. And there it was.”

Darcy can feel the adrenaline coursing through her, and it’s bugging her, knowing that James can smell it. “It can’t be that simple.” She grits out. Right, it can’t be as simple as that. 

“Okay… Maybe a link between you and the book then?”

Darcy frowns. She tentatively lifts a hand, examining it. Thinking back to the times she used magic without intending to. Maybe James was onto something. She’s silent for so long, lost in her thoughts, James clears his throat. “Would you like to head home?”

“Yeah. I think I’m ready.”

Darcy gets out of the chair, closing the book. She follows James down the stairs and out the front door, waiting for him to lock up. Darcy sighs. 

“I didn’t like the trick with the wine. If you had been wrong, it could’ve ruined a priceless book. But maybe you are onto something.” They make their way towards the car. 

“Instinctive magic?”

“Yeah.”

“Do you ever recall this happening before?”

Darcy thinks it over. “No. I can’t recall much about my childhood, though.” She pauses. “My parents died when I was young.”

“I heard.”

“It’s just, I’ve lived without magic for so long. It hasn’t been bad.”

“Darcy, you use magic all the time.” They get to the car, but Darcy doesn’t open the door yet. 

“What do you mean?”

“You’re able to tell when I’m looking at you.” 

Darcy smiles. “Because it feels like ice prickling under my skin.”

“You were born with the power. It’s a part of you, like how you were born with brown hair and amazing blue eyes.” Darcy feels her cheeks heat, and she looks away from his gaze. 

“What about you, James?” 

He shrugs, “I was born human. We weren’t good at keeping track of birthdays back then, but I think I was born around 500 AD? And then reborn in 537?”

“The things you must have seen.”

James looks away, “...and done.”

_ Alright, time to change the subject then. _

“Hey, are you busy tomorrow?”

James looks back at her, tilting his head. “No?”

“Would you like to have dinner with me?”

“...I’d love to.” He smiles at her. “Now, let’s get you home, little witch.”

“Okay.” She smiles back at him before getting into the car. 

———

Darcy hadn’t thought through inviting a vampire to dinner before she had done it. It was spur of the moment. She wanted to spend more time with James, so why not have dinner with him? It made sense at the time. Now, she was wondering what she was even supposed to feed him. She didn’t have a ton of knowledge on vampires; she knew for sure they fed on blood. But she had seen James drinking wine? So, obviously, he ate and drank things besides wine. What would he enjoy, though? She started googling the eating habits of predator animals, wolves to be specific. She was taking notes when her phone started ringing. She sighed when she saw the caller ID.

“Hey, Aunt Carol.”

“ _ Why are you hanging out with a vampire? _ ” Carol sounds serious. Darcy rolls her eyes. 

“Is Maria spying on me again? They’re not as bad as people say they are. A lot of what is told about them isn’t true.”

“ _ He could feed on you! Or take your memories! _ ”

“I doubt that’s real.”

“ _ He could have done it already, and you don’t even remember. He could know everything about the book! _ ”

Darcy sighs. “I can assure you, he’d never do something like that to me. I’m in zero danger with him.”

“ _ Darcy, _ ” it’s Maria now, she sounds a lot calmer than Carol, “... _ Do you recall the bedtime stories your mother would tell you? About the Shadow Prince that lived between sunset and moonrise? _ ”

Darcy smiles, thinking of how much she loved hearing those stories. One of the happy memories she remembers of her mother. “I do. I loved those stories so much.”

“ _ What if he’s the Shadow Prince. _ ” Maria continues, sounding wary. 

“ _ That’s absurd. We’re jumping to conclusions about things we don’t even know! We don’t know who this vampire is or what he wants! _ ” Carol sounds exasperated. 

“He’s coming over for dinner tomorrow, so I’ll ask him.”

“ _ What?! Darcy! You can’t have dinner with a vampire. What are you thinking? _ ”

_ That I'd like to spend more time with him. _

“It will be fine. As I said, he is no threat. He won’t harm me. I’ll talk to him and see what his intentions are. Please, stop spying on me.”

Maria cuts in before Carol can go off again. “ _ We’ll talk to you later, jellybean. Be safe _ .”

Darcy lets out a breath. “I will.” She hangs up the phone. She hadn’t thought about the stories her mom used to tell her in quite some time. James is the Shadow Prince? Could it be? Everything has been so crazy; anything could be possible. She shakes her head. She still needs to figure out what to feed him. She’ll go to the shops in the morning. 

———

The next morning, Darcy can’t say she’s surprised when she finds Peter Parker waiting outside her apartment building. 

“Bucky had a conference. Molecular biology techniques,” is the first thing he says, following behind Darcy, having little trouble keeping up with her shorter legs. 

_ Stupid vampires and their impressive heights.  _

“Did he ask you to keep an eye on me?” 

“Uh, yeah. He’s become attached to you”, Peter’s voice sounds wary, like he might be saying too much. 

“Is he always this controlling”, Darcy mutters, hiking her bag higher on her shoulder. 

“With Nat and me, most definitely. With a witch, it’s a first.” 

Darcy snorts, turning down the next block to reach the farmer’s market. Vampires were all about super fresh ingredients, right? 

“Well, since you’re here, I can utilize you. Talk me through Bucky’s favorites. I don’t want this dinner to be a disaster.” 

Peter snickers and bounds a little ahead of her, stopping by a stall selling raw nuts. Darcy grabs a pound of raw pecans and raw chestnuts, relegating Peter to carrying her purchases the deeper they head into the open-air market. 

“I’ll tell you what kind of meat Bucky likes  _ if _ you come back to the lab and get your blood taken.” 

Darcy nearly drops the head of lettuce she was scrutinizing. She wasn’t much of a fan of the sight of blood. Ironic, considering Darcy was trying to seduce a vampire. She squints at Peter after paying the stall owner for the lettuce. 

“Look, all the DNA we’ve taken so far points to four original witch clans. Wouldn’t it be interesting to find out where the Lewis blood started?” 

It did pique Darcy’s interest, despite her reservations about seeing blood come out of her. She also really needed to know what kind of meat James liked since it was the last thing on her list.

“Okay, fine. I’ll bite, no pun intended. Now what kind of meat should I get for him?” 

Peter smiles brightly before pulling Darcy further into the maze of stalls. 

“Stags are his favorite,” the young vampire says as they stop to peruse a meat stall. Darcy swallows back the nausea at all the raw meat and joins Peter in his search for the main course of tonight’s dinner. 

———

After finding the perfect ingredients for the meal, they stop by Darcy’s apartment to drop everything off and then head to the lab. As soon as they arrive, Natasha is glancing up from her computer. 

“Bucky isn’t here.” She says, very matter of fact. 

“Darcy’s agreed to let us take her blood.” Peter smiles. 

Darcy looks over at Peter. “Don’t look so excited.”

Peter puts his hands up, “Hey, a deal’s a deal.”

“Right.” Darcy draws out the word. 

“You’re going to let us take a blood sample?” Natasha lifts a pristine eyebrow. 

“Yes. I am. Who’s doing it?” Darcy looks between the two vampires. 

“I will.” Natasha went to get a sample kit. Darcy took a seat in a nearby chair, pulling up her shirt sleeve. She was nervous. She wasn’t a huge fan of needles, but like Peter said: a deal was a deal. 

Natasha pulls up a stool in front of Darcy, laying out the kit on the table. She takes a cleaning cloth and begins cleaning the site. “You’ve had to wonder about the Lewis bloodline,” Natasha says as she gets the needle ready. “I know I’m curious.”

Darcy tries not to flinch as the needle is inserted, her eyes instinctively closing. “What will we learn from the tests?” 

Peter pipes up. “It should tell us your inherited powers and traits and where you’re from.”

_ All helpful information. _

“We can possibly trace your lineage back to one of four witches. Who…” Peter’s cut off when the door to the lab is flung open. Darcy jumps, and everyone looks to the door. James comes striding into the room, looking absolutely murderous. He glares at Natasha. 

“What the hell are you doing?” He approaches. “Stop now. If any vampire is going to take her blood, it will be me.” Darcy doesn’t get what’s going on. James and Natasha have a stare down for a moment before Natasha gets up, handing James the unused vials reluctantly. He takes Natasha’s vacated seat. Darcy is surprised by how gently he grasps her arm as he begins taking the blood. He watches her for a moment, their eyes locked. She can smell him this close, the smell of cinnamon and cloves making her stomach do flips. 

He’s first to break the silence. “Are you okay?” He removes the vial. 

“Yeah.” She says, her voice sounding breathy. He carefully removes the needle, tossing it into a sharps container, then bandages her arm. He squeezes her hand, reassuringly. 

“Are we still on for tonight?” He smiles at her.

“Absolutely.”

“Great! I’ll see you then.” James gets up, grabbing her blood samples. Darcy can’t help but smile. She hadn’t expected to see him till later, and this was a pleasant surprise. 

“I’ll see you guys later!” Darcy gives Peter and Natasha a wave as she leaves. 

———

It’s a couple of hours after the lab visit, and Darcy is almost done with cooking. There isn’t necessarily a lot of cooking needed for a vampire, they eat the meat raw, so it’s just cooking her portion of the meal. The rest is raw nuts and fresh berries she had picked up at the farmers market. She had found while researching the eating habits of wolves that they eat other things besides meat, so she imagined maybe a vampire would be the same way. Peter hadn’t said anything differently while they had been shopping. 

She sets the table with her nicest dishes. It’s all teal and from Ikea. 

_ At least they’re cute. _

She’s just getting some candles lit when there’s a knock on the door. 

“Coming!” She shouts as she tosses the lighter into a drawer, then straightens out her outfit while looking in the mirror. She looks cute in a navy blue dress and black heels. She takes a deep breath. 

  
_ Keep it together, Darcy! _

She walks over to the door, unlocking it, and begins opening it.

“Sorry, I’m running…” She stops short upon seeing Pierce there. He takes a look at her. 

“Are you expecting someone?” He pushes his way into her apartment. Darcy is so shocked to see him; she doesn’t speak for a moment. He’s the last person she wanted to see. Her shock is quickly replaced with anger, however. 

“Get out of my apartment, asshole!”

“You’re feeding him?” Pierce has a look of absolute disgust on his face. “You avoid witches but welcome the company of a vampire?”

“Newsflash, I’m not a bigot. Now get the hell out of my apartment. I won’t ask again.” 

“You’re just like your father! Open-minded to the point he put himself and your mother in danger.” Pierce’s attention is drawn to the door, and a second later, James is standing behind Darcy. Pierce looks between the two of them in disbelief. 

Darcy glares at Pierce. “Pierce was just leaving.” Pierce looks like he’s about to say something when James growls. Pierce shakes his head, giving them both one more withering look before leaving. 

Darcy turns to James. He gives her a small smile before showing her a bottle of wine. She smiles back, accepting the wine, then heads towards the kitchen to get their dishes. She hears James shut and lock the front door. 

When she approaches the table, James is already sitting down. She sets his plate in front of him and then hers. She takes a seat. 

“Hi.” She says, breaking the silence. 

“Hi.”

“Sorry about that. I don’t know why he was here, besides to be a judgemental jackass.”

“It’s okay. I’m just glad I got here as quick as I did. What are we having?” He studies his plate. 

“It’s a surprise.” She grins at him. “I want to see if you can guess.”

“Okay.” He cuts a slice of the red meat, smelling it before taking a bite. “Mmm.” His eyes go closed as he savors the food. He swallows. “White-tailed deer.” A smug smile forms on his face. “A young New England stag from the taste of it.”

Darcy’s eyes widen. “How.. how can you tell all that from one bite?”

“I have heightened senses.” He shrugs, before taking more bites. 

“Okay, so some things from stories are true.” Her mouth forms a mischievous grin. “Can you fly?”

James scoffs. “No. But our abilities to run and jump gives humans the impression we’re flying.” He finishes what’s on his plate before continuing. “And vampires are efficient.” James wipes his face with a napkin, then gets up from his seat, grabbing the bottle of wine on the counter. “We don’t use much energy, so it’s stored until we need it.” 

“Do you breathe?”

“Not a lot. Our hearts don’t beat often.” He gives her a look, pouring them each a cup of wine before handing her one. “I figured you knew about vampires, which is why you invited me to dinner.”

“I know very little. Probably a lot less than humans.” She grimaces. 

“A lot of the legends were simply dreamed up by humans, anyway.” 

“Black hats, bats, and brooms.” Darcy says pointing to herself. 

“It’s weird the things humans fixate on. But somewhere in their stories, there has to be some shred of truth. Something had to have frightened them and helped them deny we were real.”

Darcy takes a sip of the wine.

“What do you taste?” James inquires. 

“Flowers. Spice. What do you taste?” James takes a sip. 

“I taste violets.” He says while holding the glass up to his mouth. “Purple sugared ones.” He lowers the glass. “You know who loved those?”

“Who?”

“Elizabeth Tudor. She loved them so much they ruined her teeth.” Darcy laughs. He takes another sip. “There are also blackberries, from hedgerows. Uh, cigar smoke.” He seems to be looking off into the distance as he analyzes what he’s tasting. “Red currants in brandy.” He looks Darcy in the eye. “I could go on for quite some time.”

“.....What would I taste like?” 

James' eyes widen for a fraction of a second, his jaw clenching. Darcy gulps. 

“Don’t ask me that. Ever.” He grits out slowly before looking away. Darcy panics, setting her glass down before getting up. 

“I just asked to understand.” She says hesitantly. 

James closes in on her, staring intently into her eyes. “You wouldn’t be able to stop me if I attacked. It would happen so fast. And there’s no way I could stop myself.” He sounds gruff. Darcy doesn’t believe that one bit, and she wants him to know.

  
“I’m safe with you.” She says just above a whisper, so she doesn’t spook him. One moment she’s looking at him, and the next, he has her up against his body, facing away from him. Her heart pounds in her chest. She hears him sniff her. 

He puts his face against the side of her head. “I smell willow sap, chamomile honey,” She can feel his lips moving against her hair, “frankincense, lady’s mantle,” He raises his head a little. “Ancient things I thought I’d forgotten,” Darcy wills herself to turn in his grasp to face him. “But it’s not just your smell that’s mesmerizing. I can hear your witch’s blood, coursing through your veins, singing to me.” He caresses her face, “and when I touch your skin, it rushes to the surface.” She leans into his touch. There’s one thing Darcy wants to do after all that. She brings her hands up his chest, to the back of his neck and pulls him into her as she leans up on her toes to bring their lips together. She expected his lips to feel like ice, like how it feels when a vampire looks at her, but his lips are soft and just slightly cold. He’s hesitant at first, allowing her to kiss him. But then things amp up, and he begins devouring her, his hands going from her face, down the sides of her body, to cup her ass, pulling her further into him as he deepens the kiss. Darcy can’t help the moan that escapes her lips. It feels like the kiss lasts for hours, but before she knows it, James lets go of her, resting their foreheads together. Darcy’s breathing heavily, but James doesn’t seem to make a sound. 

“Thank you for dinner.” He says softly. Darcy smiles. 

“You’re welcome.” They step apart from one another. 

“I should get going.”

“Okay. Thank you for joining me.”

He leans in, giving her a quick kiss and a smile before he leaves. Darcy closes the door behind him. She can’t help the smile that’s on her face. 

————

When she wakes up the next morning, Darcy can still feel the slight coolness from James’ lips on hers. Giggling, she rolls around in her bed a couple of times before getting up to start the day. Her apartment still smells of clove and cinnamon, too. While she’s making herself some coffee, she hears a knock on her door. 

_ Huh...Strange. Did James forget something?  _

Heading to the front door, she notices a manila folder just inside, like it was shoved under the gap between the door and the floor. Darcy opens the door, but there isn’t anyone out in the hall. Whoever left the folder booked it once they’d done it. With a shrug, she shuts the door, picking up the manila folder and heading back into the kitchen.

_ This is rather heavy. What could possibly be in it?  _

“Well, you won’t know if you don’t open it,” Darcy mutters to herself, ripping the folder flap from its sticky adhesive. What she finds inside sends a trickle of fear down her spine. A tear slips down her cheek before she even notices it. Throwing the offending pictures onto the counter by the sink, she angrily wipes at her eyes before storming into her room to get dressed. It’s a last-minute thought when she grabs the photos, but they’d be her ammunition. 

Minerva was in for it now. 

It took Darcy fifteen minutes to briskly walk to Minerva’s place; she practically jogged. Once at Minerva’s door, she starts banging. 

“Open up! I know you’re in there!” Darcy yells. She hears footsteps approaching and then the door opening. She barely gives Minerva a glance before she barrels her way into the front hallway.

“Darcy, how can I help you?” Minerva doesn’t seem to be bothered by Darcy’s evident anger. 

Darcy shoves the photos in Minerva’s face. “You knew about these!” Darcy says through gritted teeth. 

“I’m sorry, I don’t know what those are.” 

“They’re my parents! Pictures of their murder!” Darcy is seething. 

“I don’t know where they came from. I’m sorry you’ve had to see them.” Minerva’s coolness was beginning to really irritate Darcy. 

“Pierce sent them to me!”

“Why ever would he do a thing like that?” 

“Where is he!?”

“I don’t know.”

“This is sick!” Darcy turns on her heel and storms away, angry and hurt.

“Wait! You aren’t going to give the book to the leech, are you?” 

Darcy stops, turning her glare back on Minerva. The other witch actually steps back, and her hands are clenched tightly. 

“I am going to understand that book myself!” 

Darcy throws open the door and storms down the front steps, not bothering to close it behind her. 

———

It was five o’clock. The Beinecke would be closing soon, but Darcy had to deal with this once and for all. Taking a steadying breath, she marches into the library, catching Quill as he’s dealing with request slips left on the tables. 

“Dr. Lewis,” he asks when he sees her, a small frown on his face. 

“Hey, Quill, sorry for the late request, but can you get a book out for me? Just this once?”

“Which one?” 

Darcy follows him as he continues organizing the request slips on the tables. 

“The  _ Ordinal of Alchemy _ .” 

Quill snorts, and it has her frowning. 

“Everybody and their grandmother has been asking for that book this week. The last one who had it out was you, and it’s not here.” 

“But….I returned it to the stacks…” 

“Yeah, it’s weird.” 

“Well, then, it should be there. Would you be able to look just one more time? For me?” 

Quill picks up the last request slip before meeting her eyes. 

“Sure, I’ll go and have another look. Give me five minutes!” 

“Thank you,” she says in relief. 

He jogs off towards the return desk. Darcy sighs, leaning against one of the tables, crossing her arms over her chest. The library isn’t completely silent, so she doesn’t hear who approaches her until they are practically breathing down her neck. 

“Perhaps we can wait together,” Pierce says conversationally, making Darcy whirl around. 

There are more pressing gazes that make Darcy’s skin crawl, and she looks up. Several witches are blocking all the exits, including Minerva. Darcy sends her a menacing look before turning it back onto Pierce. 

“Minerva thought you might take the book out again. You see, Darcy, she understands its importance to us.” 

“You sent me those photographs,” Darcy says through gritted teeth, bodily shoving Pierce back. 

The wizard uses her contact with him to grip her upper arms, squeezing them tightly. 

“I don’t want you to end up like Elizabeth! Your father made her turn her back on her own kind and look at what it did to them!” 

“Hey..uh, sorry, Darce, it’s just...not there..” Quill is wary as he approaches her. 

Pulling out of Pierce’s grip, she hurries to Quill, attempting to shield him from Pierce and the other witches. She waves her hands in front of her face and smiles blandly. 

“Don’t worry, it’s fine. I guess it really is gone.”

Quill looks around the library, making eye contact with each creature before looking back at her.

“What is going on,” he whispers, cutting his eyes to Pierce over Darcy’s shoulder. 

“Darcy, ask him to look again,” Pierce sounds like he’s about to lose his temper. 

“Hey, you don’t order her around in my library. Who do you think you are?! Get out,” Quill shouts, stalking towards Pierce. Darcy isn’t able to intervene before Pierce lifts his hand. Quill stops dead in his tracks, grunting in pain. 

“With this knot, I bring darkness to your mind.” 

“Stop,” Darcy screams, holding out her hand in a weak attempt to do  _ something.  _

Pierce twists his hand, and so does Quill’s body. Her friend falls to the ground, unconscious. Darcy dives to the floor beside him, patting at his cheeks, trying to get him to wake up. 

“Quill! Quill!” 

A cool breeze ruffles Darcy’s hair as she turns to look back at Pierce. The breeze doesn’t temper the rage building in her chest. The strange wind gets stronger the angrier she feels. Darcy stands, facing Pierce completely. The witch is suddenly thrown backward over a nearby table. He knocks off desk lamps and upends chairs as he goes, trying to grab onto anything to slow him down. Darcy feels like she can’t breathe, and the wind won’t stop either. Gasping for air, tears start rolling down her cheeks. 

_ Stop! Stop it! _

But the wind won’t listen to her. 

Darcy falls to the floor, still gasping for air as she tries to crawl for the library exit. 

“Darcy! Hold on!” 

Suddenly, James is there, knocking over a chair so he can get to her. She reaches out her hand towards him, and he grabs it, holding on tight. 

“Don’t hold your breath,” he orders, using his free arm to wrap her in a firm grip. 

The wind still won’t die down, and Darcy can see black spots in her vision. 

“Just breathe, Darcy. It’s okay,” James whispers, pulling her closer to him. 

Darcy presses her face into James’ upper arm, inhaling the scent of cloves and cinnamon. Mercifully, the wind begins to slow. Her heart is pounding, and she can still feel tears leaking out of her eyes. 

“It’s okay. You’re safe,” James says soothingly.

Darcy goes boneless against the vampire. She clings to him like a lifeline as deep exhaustion seems to fill her limbs with lead. The last thing Darcy remembers is James lifting her into his arms and pressing a kiss to her forehead. 

———

When Darcy wakes up next, the church bells are ringing. There is a weak light outside her window, which she can barely look at due to her impressive headache. Rolling over, she sees a figure by the window. The smell of clove and cinnamon wafts towards her when the person moves. 

“James…” her mouth was so dry, she felt like cotton was lodged in her throat. “What time is it..?” 

James turns from the window before he speaks. 

“It’s five am. You’ve been asleep for ten hours. You were pretty exhausted from the witch wind.” 

Darcy frowns, sitting up despite her aching head. Memories from the library come funneling back into her mind all at once. Pierce showing up for the book, Quill getting attacked, the anger she’d felt towards the invading witches. 

But, most of all, she remembers the wind of her own making that had knocked Pierce back several feet. 

“.....Witch wind?”

“Yes. It hasn’t been seen for centuries, which means you need to leave New Haven.” 

Darcy leans back, giving James a mild glare. 

“No, James, I can’t leave! I have my paper to finish!” 

James sighs, standing from the window and walking towards her. He kneels next to her bed, his icy gaze tickling her skin. 

“Pierce will come after you. Even more so now that you humiliated him.” 

“Don’t worry, I can deal with Alexander Pierce,” her voice is strong, but even she’s not convinced that was possible. 

“No, not yet, you can’t. You have extraordinary power, but it’s volatile and undisciplined. It would be wise to come to terms with it somewhere safer.” 

Darcy shifts, pulling her legs out from under the blankets. Her toes meet the icy wood floor, and James adjusts to rest his hands on either side of her legs, effectively caging her with his arms. 

“I guess I could go to my aunts,” but Darcy honestly didn’t want to be without James. 

“No. I’m going to take you to Ireland with me. You’ll be in vampire territory there. Pierce wouldn’t be able to trespass on the land without angering my mother, sister, and step-brother.” 

_ I still have so much to learn about vampire etiquette.  _

James leans up closer, brushing his nose against Darcy’s. She laughs softly, a flush coming to her cheeks. They lock eyes just before James presses his lips to hers. Despite the constant coolness of the vampire’s skin, the kiss has Darcy’s lips catching on fire, a volcano erupting in her chest. Returning the kiss is easy. But, Darcy is the one to pull away first reluctantly. She rests her forehead against James’ while keeping her eyes closed. 

“I’d love to keep doing that forever, but I suppose I should pack. I don’t know what I’ll need for winter in the British Isles” only when she’s done speaking does she open her eyes. 

James leans back and holds out a hand to her. Taking it, they both stand, and he presses another kiss to her forehead before letting her gather her things for the impromptu trip across the sea. 

It’s a couple of hours later when they leave. Darcy turns off all the lights in her apartment, grabbing her keys from the bowl by the door. They’re quiet as they descend the stairs and exit the building, James walking right beside her. One of her suitcases is in his possession, while she has her bag with her laptop and research, along with a smaller suitcase. 

When they’re closer to the car, James holds out his free hand. Darcy doesn’t even look before reaching out and grabbing it with her own, lacing their fingers together. 

_ Ireland, here we come.  _


	4. Caisleán Geimhridh

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I picture Michelle Fairley as Aoife. She played Catelyn Stark in Game of Thrones. And Lily Collins as Rebecca, except with blue-grey eyes like Sebastian. 
> 
> This chapter definitely has some light angst. 
> 
> TW: mentions of murder. 
> 
> Thank you for reading, we hope you enjoy.

When James had told her they would be going to Ireland, she expected they’d possibly fly first class. She wasn’t sure how wealthy James was but growing up, her aunts would talk about how vampires were rolling in it, but witches generally weren’t. At least not in her aunts’ cases. Darcy was shocked when she found out they were traveling by private jet. James had explained it was one of the family’s private planes. She’d never flown in such luxury before. 

Darcy slept most of the way, only waking up for snacks. She was comfortable with James and felt safe with him. She knew he wouldn’t let anything happen to her. 

There was a gentle nudge on her arm. 

“Darcy?” James was saying her name softly, “Darcy, we’re here.”

Darcy opened her eyes. James was crouched down in front of her. 

“We’re here already?” She couldn’t help but stretch.

“Yeah. Welcome to Ireland.” He gives her a warm smile and offers her a hand to help her out of her seat. There’s a car waiting for them outside the plane, and James quickly deposits their luggage in the trunk. He learned his lesson on trying to help her into vehicles and lets her get into the passenger seat all on her own. 

The car ride is quiet for a bit, Darcy still a bit exhausted from the plane ride. They’re driving through a village, and Darcy notices villagers waving to James as he goes down the old roads. 

“Do the villagers know what you all are?” Darcy glances over to James. 

“Yes. Similar to witches, it’s safer for vampires when they’re a part of a community. They know what we are, but don’t bother us, and we don’t bother them.” Darcy understood. There had been witches in Danvers for centuries, and the humans simply turned a blind eye. 

“Does your mom and sister know we’re coming?”

“I let them know.”

“I don’t want to be an uninvited guest.” Darcy chews on her lip. 

James looks over to her. “You’re more than welcome.”

Darcy smiles at him before looking back at the road. They’re on a winding road, heading up the side of a big hill. So far, there’s been trees blocking the view of what is on top of the hill, but as they climb higher, the trees let up, and Darcy can get a glance at a huge and ancient castle that has jutting towers. She counts three on just the area she can see. Darcy’s eyes widen, her breath catching. 

“Is… is this where we’re staying?”

“Yes. It’s my ancestral home.  _ Caisleán Geimhridh _ .”

James says the Gaelic quickly, and Darcy has a hard time understanding, but the way he says it is beautiful. She knows she won’t be able to pronounce it, though. 

“Um, I don’t want to butcher the name horribly, is there something I might be able to call it?”

James chuckles. “It roughly translates to Winter Castle in English.” He says, smiling. 

Darcy smiles back. She’s a bit nervous. She doesn’t know much about James’ family, and now she knows their home is a castle that they probably built hundreds of years ago. She can feel her heartbeat increasing. James grabs one of her hands. “Hey, you’re okay.” He gives her a reassuring smile as they pull up in front of the castle. Darcy takes a deep breath, getting her nerves under control. 

They get out of the car, James grabbing their bags. An elegant woman is standing at the top of the steps, and next to her, a younger woman who Darcy quickly realizes is the woman from the portrait at James’ home. Darcy can tell the younger woman is related to James, just by her appearance and her piercing blue-grey eyes. The older woman looked to be in her mid to late fifties. She was a small woman, maybe a little taller than Darcy, had chocolate brown hair that sat atop her head in a perfect bun, and wise eyes. At the younger woman’s feet are two identical pugs. Darcy gulps. 

_ Here we go, time to meet the family. _

Darcy followed James towards the steps, stopping for a moment at the landing. The two pugs run down the steps to greet them. Darcy smiles, bending down to give them pets. James chuckles, looking down at the two dogs. 

“These two are Rebecca’s pride and joy, Helen and Paris.” Darcy turns her eyes up to James as he speaks, before rising back up. James turns his head around to the two women at the top of the stairs. “Darcy, this is my mother, Aoife Brant, and my sister, Rebecca Barnes.” Darcy takes note that his mother’s name is pronounced EE-fa. 

Both women watch them carefully. James looks at them expectantly. “Are we going to go inside or just hang out here?”

They offer no response; they simply turn and head into the castle; the dogs run back up the stairs to follow Rebecca. James puts a comforting hand on Darcy’s back, gently leading her up the stairs. Once they’re both inside, Aoife finally speaks as she guides them through the home. Rebecca takes up a spot in a nearby wingback chair, blue-gray eyes documenting every minute movement her sharp eyes can catch, the dogs stationed by her feet. 

“A little consideration would have been appreciated,  Séamus .” Darcy notices Aoife has a thick Irish accent. 

“But Ma, I thought you enjoyed being a rebel,” James replied. 

Aoife scoffs. “That’s absurd. I’ve never been a rebel a day in my long life, and I don’t like change.” They end up in a beautiful dining room. Darcy decides to speak up to cut some tension. 

“Thank you for allowing me in your home.” 

Aoife says something in a language Darcy doesn’t understand. Darcy gives James a look. 

James sighs. “She’s pleased to meet you.”

“Of course, she only speaks English. When did warmbloods stop learning other languages?” 

Darcy realizes that James' mother definitely doesn’t want her here. Aoife turns away, taking a seat in the sitting room, leaving Darcy with James standing there awkwardly. James’ sister seems just to be watching her closely, and it’s making her feel very uneasy. 

“Séamus!” An older woman comes from another room, shouting excitedly upon seeing James. 

“Moira!” James is enveloped in a hug by the woman. They speak for a moment, but Darcy doesn’t pick up on what they’re saying. James turns to Darcy, “This is my friend Darcy.”

Moira looks at Darcy, giving her a warm smile. “Welcome!”

“Moira has worked for the family for centuries.” 

Darcy smiles back at Moira; thankful someone seems okay with her being here. “Thank you.”

James turns back to Moira. “Darcy needs to take it easy, maybe take a nap.”

“I can get a room made up for her!”

“That’s okay. She’ll be staying in my tower. I’ll take care of it.” 

Darcy turns to Rebecca, who has been silent this whole time. “Uh, it’s nice to meet you.”

“It’s nice to meet you too, Darcy Lewis. We’ve heard so much about you.” Rebecca smiles at her. Darcy shivers, feeling the ice-cold gaze of Aoife from the sitting room.

“Follow me, Darcy,” James says and starts heading out of the room, Darcy trailing behind him at a slower pace. 

———

Darcy feels like she walked up a million stairs to get to James’ rooms at the tower’s top. They went past James’ study that was located below his room. Darcy only got a glimpse, but she could see lots of bookcases. Once she made it to the top, she couldn’t help looking around at all the items scattered around the room. Little things that James had decided to keep over his many lives. She found herself at a window overlooking the gorgeous Irish countryside. She could make out the village they’d driven through and beautiful rolling green hills. 

A giant four-poster bed took up space against a wall, with a canopy above it. 

James turned the sheets down. “Why don’t you lay down and take a nap.” At the mention of a nap, Darcy yawns. 

She turns from the window to look at him. “You’ve got to be exhausted as well. Would you like to nap with me?”

“Oh. Uh, Vampires don’t sleep all that much. At least, not like humans. We only rest occasionally.”

Darcy’s surprised when a white cat jumps up onto the bed and immediately starts kneading at one of the pillows. 

“Oh! Who’s that?” Darcy asks, pointing at the newcomer.

James scratches the cat on its back. Darcy can hear it purr from her place by the window. “This is Alpine. My cat, uh, he likes to hang out here in the tower.”

“Alpine is very handsome.”

“He’ll keep you company while you nap. I think he’ll like a warm-blooded body.”

Darcy smiles at him. Then she considers her thoughts for a moment. The feeling that James’ mother didn’t want her, there was weighing on her mind. She decides just to say something to get it out in the open. 

  
“So, your mom doesn’t want me here.”

James sighs, rubbing a hand through his long hair. “She’s just not used to having company. No one except family has visited since my step-father died.” He gives her a look like he’s willing her to understand. 

“What… what happened to him?” Darcy blurts. 

James' jaw clenches. “He was killed during World War II.” He starts backing up, “I’m going to head downstairs to the study. Alpine will be in here with you.” The cat had already claimed a spot on a pillow and had curled up. “Just let me know if you need anything.” James turns on his heel, heading out the door. 

_ Way to stick your foot in your mouth, Darcy _

Darcy sighs, deciding that she should rest. She crawls into the bed, and sure enough, Alpine moves to curl up against her body. It’s reassuring, and she falls asleep quickly. 

———

**_Darcy rolls over into her side, squeezing her eyes closed before opening them. She’s not in the room she fell asleep in, so this must be a dream. Someone is standing over by the window—someone with dark brown curls identical to hers._ **

**_“Mom…?”_ **

**_Elizabeth Lewis slowly turns from the window, her face bloody, and a large gash stretches from her right shoulder to her left leg._ **

**_“Mom?”_ **

**_“Darcy,” Elizabeth smiles sadly._ **

**_“Mom…” Darcy screams, gasping when she sees the cobwebs from the previous dreams covering her arms. She thrashes around to try and get them loose._ **

**_“Mom!”_ **

**_“Darcy….”_ **

Darcy awakens in James’ tower room with a gasp. A tear slides down her cheek, but she doesn’t wipe it away. She can’t seem to move her arms or even blink. The door is suddenly thrown open, and Rebecca Barnes is on the other side, hands raised as if to attack. 

“Is everything okay? What happened?!” 

That has Darcy coming out of her trance, blinking rapidly. She meets Rebecca's eyes, and the vampire’s arms drop to her sides. 

“I’m sorry….Bad dream…” 

Darcy’s phone suddenly begins to ring. It’s deafening in the silence stretching between her and James’ sister. Rebecca frowns, coming to sit on the bed without a whisper of noise. Darcy scrabbles for her phone, where she’d left it on the bedside table, clicking the accept call button and bringing it to her ear. 

“...Hello..?” 

_ “Jellybean! Your ringtone changed! Where are you, _ ” Carol says by way of greeting. 

“Oh...uh, I had to leave New Haven.” 

In an unexpected turn of events, Rebecca reaches out and grabs Darcy’s free hand, her expression pensive. The coolness grounds Darcy further, and she’s able to take a deeper breath. 

“ _ What? Why, _ ” Carol says with alarm. 

“Alexander Pierce threatened me.” 

“ _ It was right for you to leave. He’s a dangerous man. He harassed your parents, too _ ”, Maria supplies while Carol sputters in the background. 

Rebecca snarls softly at the mention of Pierce, scooting closer to Darcy on the bed. Darcy smiles at her weakly. She’s so tired of being bullied because of that stupid book. 

_ “Honey, where did you go _ ,” Carol begs, sounding like a long-suffering mother. 

“I’m with James. At his mother’s house. In Ireland.”

It’s silent for a few seconds before Carol speaks through gritted teeth. 

“ _ Listen, Darcy. You need to get out of there. Aoife Brant is dangerous. _ ” 

“...You know who she is?” 

Darcy cuts her eyes to Rebecca. The vampire is biting her bottom lip, holding Darcy’s hand a bit tighter. 

“ _ She’s destroyed entire covens! In the ‘50s and ‘60s, she hunted down any witch she could get her hands on. Many of the victims were elderly, and she killed children! _ ” 

Bile rises in Darcy’s throat. 

“Why would she do that…?” 

“ _ Why?! Because she’s a witch killer _ ,” Carol yells, Maria trying to soothe her in the background. “ _ Come home, Darcy! _ ” 

The call suddenly ends. Darcy slowly pulls her phone away from her ear, placing it back on the bedside table. 

“Is it true?” she whispers, clenching Rebecca’s hand tightly. The vampire doesn’t flinch and there is a sad look in her eyes. 

“...Yes. Mother was so broken after George died...I didn’t want her to. The Congregation would’ve gotten involved. But she was able to stay under their radar. Mostly.” 

“Did James approve of it?” Darcy grits out. 

“I-I don’t know...He wasn’t speaking to us. He’d left Ireland for somewhere in Russia...Something had broken in him, too.” 

Tears slide down Darcy’s cheeks. Tears for the witches killed by Aoife Brant. Tears for her own ignorance at how the world of creatures operated. 

But mostly, she cried for what James and his family had lost at the hands of her own people. 

———

After Darcy had gotten herself together, Rebecca gave her a quick hug and departed from the tower. Darcy headed down to the study to find James. He seemed to be working at his computer, but immediately turned to her when she entered. Alpine followed her into the study, and jumped up on the couch to lay down. James smiled at her and offered to give her a tour of the house; she happily agreed. They exited the tower, and he took her through many different rooms. She loved seeing all of the ancient decorations. The historian part of her brain wanted to know more about each painting and sculpture she came across. 

“Is the whole house used? It’s so big.”

James chuckles. “Ma and Becca used to, but now a lot of it’s closed up.”

They come across a door that Darcy is very intrigued by. She stares at it for a moment in wonder. “That was George’s office,” James says from behind her. 

“You said he died in the Second World War.” Darcy says steadily, “But, I found out that after his death, Aoife spent the next couple decades wiping out covens. She was apparently ruthless.” Darcy said as she approached the door like she was drawn to it. She puts her hands upon it, feeling the old wood. “When I was younger, my Aunts told me that some witches worked with the Nazis.” Darcy slowly turns back to face James. “They had a part in his death, didn’t they?”

James looks a bit sad. “Yes.You had nothing to do with them. It was a long time ago.” His voice was soft. 

Darcy frowns. “But for your mom, it doesn’t seem to matter. And, understandably, she wouldn’t like me because of what I am.” James looks away, not wanting to meet her eyes. “There’s not much I can do, though,” Darcy says sadly. She decides not to dwell on the sadness and change the subject. She wants to try and enjoy herself while she can. “Well, what should we do next?” She wants to do something that will get her mind off everything. James looks up at her. 

“We could go horseback riding?” He looks hopeful. Darcy’s face lights up. 

“There’s horses?” 

James chuckles. “Yes, follow me.”

———

James and Darcy headed out to the old stable. She borrowed some riding boots and a helmet from Rebecca, who was more than happy to loan them. Once to the stable, Darcy ran inside, approaching the first horse at an end stall. It was a giant Percheron horse that towered over her. 

“Be careful with Cathal, he bites,” James says as he approaches, looking anxious.

“Psh, he won’t bite me. You have nothing to worry about.” The horse began rubbing his head against her side. Darcy giggles, petting the horse’s neck affectionately. 

James groans. “Darcy, could you please get away from him.”

Darcy frowns. “He seems to be okay. I’d say he even likes me.” Cathal seems to agree, stamping the ground as Darcy scritched his ears.

“He’ll get bored soon, and I don’t want you near when he kicks the stall door down. He enjoys doing that.”

“My dear Cathal, we seem to be making your owner very nervous.” She gives the horse a little cuddle before stepping away and heading to the next stall. Darcy gave James a look. “You have nothing to worry about with horses and me. I grew up in the country, have ridden since I was a kid. I’m very familiar with them.”

“Okay. But Cathal is a handful. Let me get who you will be riding.”

James went to a stall, opening the gate and presenting Darcy with a gray Andalusian. Darcy admired the horse while James went to get the saddle she’d be using. 

“You’re a beautiful girl.” Darcy complimented the horse as she gave her deserving pets. The horse huffed in agreement. Darcy smiled. James brought the equipment and went about getting the horse ready. After he was done, he asked her to lead the horse out of the stable to get his horse ready. His horse was larger than hers, but not as giant at Cathal and a beautiful black color. 

While Darcy waited for James, she inspected the horse's hooves to ensure she was riding ready. James came up next to her, with his horse saddled. 

“Are you ready?” He asks, giving her a smile. 

“Yes.” She got in position to throw herself up into the saddle, but James silently came up behind her, grabbed her by the hips, and set her up in the seat like she weighed nothing. Darcy squeaked. James then fiddled around with the straps to make sure everything was secure.

“What’s her name?” Darcy inquires. 

“Her name is Saoirse. My mom used to ride her but found her too, uh, wild.” James gives Saoirse some pets before moving to his horse. Of course, he’s able to get up easily. 

Darcy runs her hands through Saorise’s mane. “All I’m hearing is she has a lot of spirit. I think we make an excellent pair.”

James chuckles at her comment before clicking his heels and leading the way out of the castle walls. They head out into the open moor, Darcy, right next to James. “What does Saoirse mean?”

“It’s an Irish name meaning Freedom.”

“Okay then, let’s fly, Saoirse!” Darcy gets the horse to start running, enjoying the wind in her hair as she flies past James. She doesn’t let up, continuing at breakneck speed. 

She can hear James shout, “Darcy!” but she doesn’t listen. She hasn’t felt this carefree in so long, just enjoying herself. A laugh bubbles up in her throat as they continue through the moor, Darcy looks over her shoulder at James, and he has a big smile on his face. They go for a bit longer until she finally slows down, coming to a slow walk. James pulls up next to her. 

“Where should we go now?” She gives him a big toothy grin. 

“Let me show you the land.” He does that adorable lopsided smile. 

“Lead the way.”

They stay next to each other the whole time, James telling her about the land. Darcy can’t help but enjoy the history lesson; she listens intently. Before she knows it, they’re back at the stables, and James is putting the horses away. 

———

Darcy and James are walking back to the castle after their adventure on the moors. They’d been walking in companionable silence, but something is nagging at the back of Darcy’s mind. 

“So, it’s understandable that your mom doesn’t want me here, and I don’t want to be a bother. Maybe I should go home?”

“She’ll be fine. I’m sure she’ll have a change of heart once she gets to know you.”

“Maybe, but Carol’s right, I should return to them. And her coven could protect me.” 

“The witches aren’t safe. You can’t go back.” When Darcy turns to look at James, his eyes are intense. Darcy feels frustrated. 

“There’s no way I can just hide away for the rest of my life. I have to face my problems, and that means taking care of Pierce.” Darcy says it with the strongest resolve she can muster. 

“Pierce isn’t the only threat.” Darcy gives him a confused look. James sighs, running a hand through his hair. “The photographs were staged. Locals didn’t murder your parents.” He’s staring into her eyes intently as he slowly closes the distance between them. “I examined the photos, and underneath everything, there was a witches’ circle.” Darcy’s breath hitches. “Humans didn’t murder your parents,” James says softly, “They were murdered by witches. I’m sorry.” His eyes are sad as he tells her this. 

Darcy shakes her head, not believing what she’s being told, tears starting to spill over. She turns on her heel, deciding to head back to the tower. She can hear James call her name as she retreats, but she just wants to be alone for a bit. 

She walks briskly back to the tower. Once in the room, she beelines for the bathroom, filling the tub. She’s numb and just goes through the motions of removing all of her clothes. She doesn’t even test the bathwater before getting in. It’s hot against her skin, steam rising in the air. She sits motionless, thinking of what James had told her. The photographs were coming back to her mind. It becomes too much when she hears the whisper of her mother’s voice in her head, calling her name. She submerges her head underwater, holding her breath. She stays down there until she no longer hears the whispers, and her lungs hurt from the lack of oxygen. Finally, she comes back up, gasping for air. She lays in the bath for a while, allowing it to relax her muscles until her fingers and toes are wrinkled. Once the water has cooled, she decides to get out, drying off and wrapping herself in a towel. Thoughts are still plaguing her, so she sits on the bed for some time, just thinking.

  
——

_ Maybe a nice little walk will help me clear my head.  _

Darcy thinks as she slips on a pair of sweatpants and one of her old, soft hoodies. She ties her damp hair back, slipping on her fuzzy socks before venturing down the stairs, past James’ ‘first-floor’ sitting room, down the second flight of stairs, and into the hallway that connected the tower to the rest of the house. Walking slowly so she can take in all the little details of the woodwork on the ceiling, she doesn’t realize where she’s ended up until she feels a vicious icy stare brush her cheek. Looking down, she peeks from behind the medieval metal partition. Aoife Brant was sitting in an old office chair in the room behind the partition, looking at Darcy coldly. 

_ Man, watch where you’re going, Lewis!  _

“Didn’t my son tell you not to leave his tower?” 

Taking a deep, fortifying breath, Darcy steps around the partition, so she’s in the doorway to the room. Aoife wasn’t going to frighten her, no sir. 

“Yes, he did.” 

“You should listen to him,” the vampire hissed, leaning forward in the office chair. 

Darcy takes another step into the room. It doesn’t look like the room has been updated since the 1940s.

_ Oh….This was George’s office looked like then, huh? _

“This was George’s office when he was alive, right?” Darcy asks softly. 

“It’s still his office! It always will be.” 

Darcy walks slowly towards the old wooden desk. It was the only thing between her and Aoife Brant’s teeth, but she could handle it. Maybe. 

“So, how did he die?” 

Aoife’s eyes sparkle with malice, and her dainty-looking hands curl into claws. The vampire snarls, and it has Darcy taking a step back. 

“You don’t get to ask me that!” 

_ Alright, cool. That works. Don’t want to know anyway.  _

Darcy tries a different approach that might soothe the ancient vampire sitting in front of her. 

“My parents were murdered. By, uh, witches..”

“Who are capable of anything,” Aoife growls. 

Darcy winces, taking another step back. Oh, how she wished she could go back to being ignorant of the supernatural world right now. 

“I like to believe there is good and evil in every species. My parents were the best, and I’m willing to bet George was one of the good ones, too. I may be a witch, but I can make up my own mind about you, despite what you did.” 

Aoife snarls again, but it’s much softer. 

“You don’t know me, girl.” 

“...You’re right. I don’t. But you don’t know me, either.” 

The vampire leans back in the office chair, hands slowly relaxing to a more human appearance. She looks Darcy up and down before asking a question. Neither one of them was probably expecting. 

“....Why were your parents killed?” 

Darcy shrugs, releasing a tired laugh. 

“I don’t know…” 

Aoife is silent for a little while. She turns to look out the window next to the desk, sun rays catching the gold strands in her brown hair. Darcy thinks their conversation might be over before Aoife suddenly speaks. 

“Whoever did it, make them pay,” the other woman says, turning from the window to meet Darcy’s gaze. 

“The grief and pain will still be there. But taking action will help.” 

A tear slips down Darcy’s face, and she laughs wetly, wiping it away. She nods and gives Aoife what, she hopes, is a genuine smile. 

———

Darcy had been invited to a family dinner, which she thought was odd but didn’t voice any of her apprehension. She went through her bag and found the nicest dress she had packed and dressed herself up, putting on makeup and pulling her hair up. She’s a bit nervous, having to sit with James’ family. She takes a few breaths before heading down to the dining room. James, the gentleman he is, pulled out her chair for her. He was seated at the head of the table. Darcy was on his left and Aoife on his right. Rebecca came in a couple of minutes after Darcy and took the seat right next to her. Moira brought out food plates for everyone and a big basket flask of wine, filling everyone’s glasses. 

“Is red wine just a thing your family’s into, or do other vampires prefer the stuff also?” Darcy asks. 

Rebecca snorts into her glass. 

“Well, vampires really like drinking for obvious reasons. But I like to think that we have a bit more restraint than the others.” James smiles at her. 

“We don’t get drunk like humans.” Rebecca pipes up. “But our family has a taste for red wine, that’s true.”

“That’s very interesting.” Darcy looks towards Aoife, smiling, “Thank you for letting me ride Saoirse. She was amazing.” 

“You’re welcome, dear. She’s a bit too wild for me. I’ve found at my age, I need a horse that’s a bit more obedient. I find that trait to be commendable in horses.”

“And in children,” James says under his breath. 

Aoife glares at him sharply, and Rebecca almost chokes on her mouthful of wine, an indelicate snort coming from her nostrils.

They finish eating dinner and then retire to the sitting room, Darcy taking a seat on one couch, while Aoife and Rebecca claim the other. James begins fiddling with the fireplace. 

“Oh, I’m not cold,” Darcy says, breaking the silence that’s fallen over the room. “There’s no need to light a fire.”

“We haven’t had a fire in here in quite some time. It’s needed.” Aoife responds. 

“Oh, okay. Cool. Baller.” 

Rebecca nudges Darcy with her elbow, and Darcy fake coughs, hoping her slang’s awkward usage didn’t confuse Aoife and Moira too much. 

“Remember when we used to have Christmas parties in this room?” Rebecca asks. 

“Ah, yes, we’d invite the villagers and get the whole family together,” Aoife says. 

“Couldn’t keep Rebecca from dancing with everybody,” James says, turning from the fire. 

“Be quiet, you.” Rebecca puts on a stern face, but Darcy can tell she’s being playful. Darcy can’t help but smile as James laughs. He gets up, heading towards an old record player, where he queues up some music. It sounded like it was from the ’30s or ’40s. James puts out a hand to Aoife. 

“Ma, will you do me the honor?”

“I will.” He pulls her up from her seat and leads her to the open floor. Darcy looks over to Rebecca, who has a big smile on her face. Darcy watches as James and Aoife begin dancing, a bit slow, and then their footwork gets a bit more complicated. Darcy is entranced by how smoothly and beautifully they move; it’s otherworldly. By the end of the song, James is chuckling, and Aoife has a smile on her face. 

James changes the record to something different. It’s a bit slower than the previous one. He approaches Darcy and puts out a hand to her. 

Darcy shakes her head. “Um, I don’t dance.”

“I don’t either.” He gives her a grin. Darcy snorts. 

“That’s a dirty lie.” Darcy smiles up at him. 

“Come on, just one dance.”

How could she say no to him? Darcy sighs, but puts her hand in his and allows him to take her to the open area. She has no idea where her feet need to be or how this is supposed to work. James moves her hands to the correct places, one on his shoulder and the other in his hand, and then he starts moving them. Darcy has no idea the steps to the dance and trips over his feet a couple of times, but thankfully James keeps her from falling. 

“Let him take the lead!” Rebecca calls from the couch. 

The song picks up, and James dips her, suddenly. Darcy gasps, but he quickly draws her up close to him, and he says, “Now spin.” And proceeds to spin her out from him. He pulls her back in. “Now, we’re going backward.” She follows along, quickly figuring out the steps. She can’t help but laugh at the fun she’s having. He dips her again and does the spin all over again. She gets really into it, allowing him to lead her through everything until he stops suddenly, stepping away from her. Her body feels like it’s full of energy, and she’s just so happy. She realizes her skin is glowing, light moving up and down her arms. 

“That’s incredible,” James says, sounding awed. 

Darcy looks to him, his face showing pure amazement. A laugh bubbles up Darcy’s throat at how she cannot believe she’s literally glowing just from happiness. After a minute, she stops glowing, and the energy seems to die down. 

“That was so cool,” Darcy says. 

“It was amazing, Darcy,” Rebecca says. 

“Would you care to go for a stroll with me?” James asks her. 

“Sure.”

———

They were walking along the castle wall. It was chilly, but the moon was out, and the sky was clear. The moonlight drifted over the Irish countryside, giving Darcy a spectacular view. Darcy and James were walking in comfortable silence before James turned to her. 

“I’ve never seen you look so happy while doing magic.” He gives her that lopsided smile, eyes bright. 

“It probably had something to do with being with you. You make me happy.” Before Darcy can think, James closes the distance between them, a hand cradling the back of her neck as he pulls her in for a toe-curling kiss. James' hands smoothed down her back as the kiss deepened until he was firmly grabbing her ass and pulling her closer to him. Darcy couldn’t help the moan that escaped her lips at their bodies being so close together. Slowly, they parted, resting their foreheads together, eyes closed as Darcy’s breaths evened out. 

“You’ve bewitched me,” James whispers, sounding awed. 

Darcy can’t help but smile. “Your body and soul?”

James chuckles. “Something like that.” 

“Good.”

Darcy’s reluctant to pull apart from him, wanting to stay in his space forever. But after they separate, James grabs her hand, intertwining their fingers as they continue their walk. 

———

“Please, please, please tell me about William Harvey. Knowing you is the closest I’ll get to meeting the man who discovered the heart is a pump”, Darcy wheedles, holding Bucky’s arm tightly in both of hers as they descend the garden steps one night. 

“Well, he wasn’t a particularly interesting man, and neither is the story that interesting,” Bucky says with a laugh. 

“But, to this historian, it’s the closest I’ll ever get to meeting him, so indulge me.” 

Both of them laugh as they head under the covered walkway. Suddenly James’ voice morphs into a growl, and he stands still, causing Darcy to trip slightly at the unexpected movement. Another growl rumbles from the vampire’s chest, Darcy dropping his arm when James turns around slowly. 

“...James….?”

“Hello, hello, Barnes,” a new arrival says. 

_ Another vampire… _

Darcy’s heart stutters in her chest, and she steps closer to James, keeping her eyes on the unknown creature. 

“Rollins,” James grits out. “It’s been years.” 

“Hmm, when was the last time? Wasn’t it when we fought with the Pope, and you were trying to save your Father’s little group of knights?”

“Why did you come?”

Darcy’s eyes dart between the two vampires. Rollins has a sleazy smirk while James looks murderous. 

_ Nope, this isn’t good. Not good at all.  _

She’s about to speak when Rollins beats her to it. 

“Ah...Is this her? The witch I’ve heard so much about?”

She doesn’t like the way Rollins’ icy gaze travels from the top of her head to her ankles and back up again. Darcy clutches at James’ arm, clenching her teeth against her primal fear. 

“I’m not going anywhere, James, I promise,” she whispers, not taking her eyes off of Rollins for a moment. 

“Jack Rollins! How wonderful to see you. This is an unexpected visit.” 

It’s Aoife, followed closely by Moira and Rebecca. James’ mother takes up the spot next to him while Rebecca stands by her side, teeth bared, and pupils slightly dilated. Darcy can feel Moira’s cold gaze on the back of her head. 

“Ah, Aoife, always a pleasure to see you. How’d you know I’d dropped by?” 

“We could smell you,” Rebecca growls, her teeth bared. 

“How unfortunate for you, then, Bex,” Rollins comments coldly. 

Rebecca flinches at the nickname, her hands tightening into fists. Darcy reaches out a tentative hand towards her, slowly slipping her hand through Rebecca’s arm. The girl doesn’t lash out, thankfully. 

“Mother, please take Darcy back to the house,” James speaks for the first time in several minutes. 

Rollins snorts, walking a few steps closer. The collective hiss from four different vampires startles Darcy, and she looks down at her feet. She can still feel Rollins looking at her from the frosty sensation on her scalp. 

“Let her stay. At least until I’ve said what I need to say.” Darcy manages to meet his eyes again, trying not to shiver from genuine fear. His sleazy smile widens when they lock eyes. 

“Darcy Lewis, I’ve been sent by the Congregation to escort you back to Venice for questioning. Be sure to bring the Book of Life with us when we go.”

_ Not this damn book again.  _

“Tell those Congregation thugs that I don’t have it! This ‘visit’ from you reeks of Pierce. Tell him to get the book for himself,” Darcy grits out, her grip on James and Rebecca tightening in her anger. 

“Darcy won’t be going back to Venice with you,” James says darkly before Rollins can speak. 

“Oh, so now you’re stopping me from carrying out a direct order from the Congregation?” 

James steps away from her, placing his body more firmly between Rollins and the rest of them. 

“Yes.” 

“Aren’t you aware of the consequences?” Rollins intones, his malice making him look more terrifying. 

“You know I do!” 

“Please, Séamus, my son...Don’t do this. They won’t kill her if you hand her over now. They will if you don’t.” 

_...Kill me? What the FUCK?! _

“....Wait....this is about her, isn’t it? The book has taken a backseat in your mind. Oh, how the mighty have fallen, it seems,” Rollins sounds interested, and Darcy doesn’t like it. “You’re breaking the Covenant!”

_ What is the ‘Covenant’? What does Rollins mean? _

Rollins has snarled the words out, and Darcy is shoved back further, Rebecca and Aoife standing at each of James’ shoulders now. 

“Come along, pet. I’ll make you some tea, hmm?” 

It’s Moira. The older woman takes her hand and gently pulls her away, taking her back towards the castle’s garden entrance. Growling and Aoife’s harsh, unintelligible shouting has Darcy attempting to look over her shoulder. So does the snapping of  _ somebody’s  _ bones. 

“Don’t look back, child,” Moira whispers, hurrying her inside much like a nanny would their young charge. 

The older vampire sets Darcy on the sofa, wrapping a blanket around her shoulders before handing her a steaming cup of tea from, seemingly, out of thin air. Tea isn’t Darcy’s first choice of drink, but she’s too shaken to beg for a cup of coffee or espresso. Moira perches on the sofa next to her, a warm smile on her face. 

_ She’s acting like nothing’s even happened. When will I be able to be that chill about all this creature bullshit? _

“....Moira?” 

“Yes, dear?” Moira gives her an encouraging nod.

“What is this covenant? What were they talking about?” 

Moira’s eyes widened. “You really have no idea? My word.” Moira takes a breath, “Well, the Covenant is an agreement that forbids interspecies relationships.”

“What?!” Darcy’s shocked. “What do you mean forbidden? Why in the world would anyone agree to something as dumb as that?”

Moira sighs. “It was when there were more of us—a lot more creatures in the world than we have now. There needed to be boundaries to ensure the humans didn’t discover us. Aoife’s husband, George, thought that if creatures from different species mated, it would cause issues. He then established the Covenant and all the creatures agreed.”

A door slammed and footsteps were approaching the sitting room they were in. 

Darcy frowned, still focused on what Moira had told her. “What are the consequences of breaking the Covenant?”

Moira got up from the seat, giving Darcy a look. “I don’t know. It’s never been broken before.”

James entered the room then, Darcy turning to take in his appearance, immediately looking him over for signs of a fight. Her eyes trailed up and down the length of his body. 

“He’s no longer here, and we don’t need to worry about the Congregation coming back.” He looks as if he was about to bolt. 

“How can you be sure?” Darcy says, not wanting him to leave. 

He turned back to face her, slowly approaching. “Because,” He ran a hand through his hair, “There won’t be a reason for them to interfere if we’re not breaking the Covenant.”

“I’m sorry, what do you mean we won’t be breaking Covenant? .....You’re gonna give up?” Darcy was stunned by this turn of events. 

“This visit by Rollins was diplomatic. If they come back, they will use force. I don’t want that. If we go against them, it will start a war that could expose us to humans.” James was staring at her intently, trying to show no emotion on his face. It was frustrating Darcy, and her temper was rising. 

“So what, you’re gonna let some dumb, narrow-minded agreement that they created a freaking long time ago get in between us?” 

“Yes,” James says, turning from her. 

“Nope. That’s not happening.” Darcy closes the distance between them. “We’re bound together! I know you feel what I feel. Something triggered my magic when you came into my life.”

“You didn’t even know about me three weeks ago,” James says through clenched teeth, rounding on her. He tried his best to look menacing. “You have no idea who I am or what I can do.” Darcy met his stare, narrowing her eyes at the blatant attempt to scare her. James’ phone chose that second to ring, but Darcy wasn’t going to let him get away that easily. 

“Why are you acting like this? This isn’t you.” She put her hands on his chest. His phone continued to ring. They stood in a standstill when it became apparent the phone wasn’t going to stop ringing, he breaks eye contact with her. James steps away from Darcy, pulling it out of his pocket and answering it. 

“Hello?” He growls. His eyebrows knit together as he listened to the person on the other end of the line. “Any damage? I’ll head that way as soon as possible.” He ends the call, stuffing the phone back into his pocket. “Someone broke into the lab,” James says, addressing the room. “I need to return to New Haven.”

Darcy nods. “Okay, let me just pack real quick, and we can go.” She turns to start heading out of the room. 

“You won’t be coming with me,” James says, stopping her in her tracks. 

“Excuse me? What do you mean I’m not going with you?” Darcy turns back towards him. 

“Maybe Darcy should be sent back to her aunts….” Aoife says. 

James approaches his mother. “No. The safest place for her is here. Ma, Rebecca, Moira…”

“Hold on, no. You don’t get to make decisions for me!” Darcy shouts from across the room. 

“Keep her safe.” James continues like Darcy hasn’t said anything. Darcy watches as the three vampires bow their heads to James in acceptance. 

“Of course, Séamus,” Aoife says softly. 

“So, what? You’re just going to leave me?!” Darcy says as James turns back towards her. Darcy approaches him. “I love you, James.” For a split second, shock shows on James’s face before he looks emotionless again. “How do you feel about me?” Darcy stared into his eyes, looking for any sign of how he felt about her. “Fuck the Covenant and double-fuck the Congregation.” James looks away from her, his jaw clenching. “Again, how do you feel about me, James?” His eyes flew back to hers. 

“You know my feelings for you.” He whispers roughly.

“Then tell me!”

James took one last look at her and then bolted from the room. Darcy started to follow, but Aoife grabbed her by the arm. “Let him go, dear.” Darcy glares and dislodges her arm, continuing to follow James out of the castle. She starts running when she sees him get to his car. He seems to pause for just a fraction of a second, before getting in and driving off. 

Darcy stands in the courtyard, watching him leave. The emotions were too much, and tears start streaming from her face. Rain clouds suddenly appear over her head, and thunderclaps as it starts pouring. She felt an energy pulse out of her as she looks up at the sky, the water flowing from the ground back up into the sky in droplets. The rain seems never-ending and Darcy doesn’t know how to stop it. Her tears join the droplets ascending back into the clouds they came from, and she fell to her knees in disbelief. She’s unable to tear her gaze from the stormy sky and the strange power she seems to have over it. 

“Shhh… come on now, pet. Let’s get you out of the rain. Warmbloods can catch colds so easily,” Moira whispers soothingly as she pulls Darcy to her feet. 

The clouds slowly begin to clear, taking the strange reversed rain with it. Rebecca hurries to take Darcy’s other arm. Aoife has stayed under the arched gate entrance. She’s not soaked to the bone like the rest of them, which means the rain only fell where Darcy had been standing. It makes her shiver and not from the cold. 

“Get some sleep, Darcy. Tomorrow is a new day,” Aoife says, brushing Darcy’s wet cheek when they’ve stopped in front of her. 

“And don’t worry, I’ll give Bucky an earful for you,” Rebecca promises as her mother turns to lead their little procession back into the house.

“Thanks...” Darcy mutters weakly, exhaustion already settling into her bones. 


	5. Bound Together

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is where we earn the M rating! Also, trigger warning for a vampire eating an animal.

The next morning, Darcy felt numb. So much was going through her head; the fact James’ had up and left and now some weird power she didn’t even know she had was manifesting. Rebecca and Aoife came into the room, telling her to take a bath to calm her mind. She got undressed and slid into the water, the warmth enveloping her body. She dunked her head under the surface in hopes it would clear her thoughts, but it didn’t. Rebecca and Aoife were in the bedroom, keeping an eye on her from a distance. Moira came up with a towel as Darcy resurfaced. 

“It’s been centuries since I’ve seen witch water. It’s such a rare power.” Moira says happily. 

Darcy frowns. “I didn’t even know I could do it. My emotions were just so… intense, and then it happened. I have these powers, and I don’t even know how to control them. The same thing happened with the witch wind.”

“You’ll learn,” Moira says before exiting the bathroom. Darcy leans back in the tub, sighing. 

“If I need to learn, then I should probably go back to Danvers,” Darcy says, knowing the vampires in the room could hear her. 

“We made James a promise to keep you safe, and you can’t leave until he gets back,” Rebecca says, coming into view of the open bathroom door. 

Aoife also came into view, standing behind Rebecca. “Get out of there. We’re taking you hunting. Be at the stables in ten minutes.” She says, very sternly. Darcy stares for a minute, confused by them wanting to take her hunting. There was no point in arguing with Aoife, though. So she got out of the bath, dried off, got dressed, and headed out towards the stables. Upon her approach, Rebecca’s two pugs came running up to her in greeting. Darcy smiles, leaning down to give them scratches. They were wearing matching plaid sweaters, Helen and Paris looking adorable. They get the horses ready and head out to a nearby forest. Aoife is taking the lead, finding a perfect spot for everyone to get off their horses. Darcy gives Saoirse some pets after tying her to a tree, so she didn’t run off. Rebecca’s pugs yip and run around the women’s feet, tackling each other into the fallen leaves. 

“Darcy, have you ever seen a vampire hunt?” Rebecca asks.

“Uh, no. I most definitely have not.”

“It’s not like how human movies show it. It’s utterly brutal.” Aoife sounds very serious. 

Rebecca and Aoife seem to sniff the air. Darcy starts walking towards them. The pugs have suddenly quieted down, sitting together near one of the trees, eyes locked on the vampires. 

“Don’t come near us when we’re hunting. We could get your scent confused with our prey.” Aoife sticks out a hand to stop Darcy in her tracks. Darcy gulps. She was nervous, but in the back of her mind, she was very curious. She wanted to see how they did this necessary task. 

Darcy turns to look over Rebecca and Aoife’s horses to make sure they’re secure, and when she turns back, the vampires are gone. 

“Okay, that’s not weird.” Darcy murmurs to herself. She slowly starts walking further into the forest before suddenly coming to a stop when she feels the presence of someone nearby. 

She slowly turns, and Aoife is standing a little way away, eyes glued to something just past her. Darcy hears a scurrying behind her, and in the next moment, Aoife is gone. Darcy’s eyes widened at how quickly the woman moved. 

“Holy shit.” She breathes. She turns towards where the movement was and found Aoife tearing into a fox with her mouth. Darcy’s fascinated by how easily Aoife goes about it. Darcy can’t help herself. She slowly begins approaching her as she continues eating the fox’s insides. Aoife finally notices her approach, recognition crossing her features. 

“This is what vampires are,” Aoife says, as she continues to chew. She slowly starts getting up. “Can you still love my son, knowing what we are and how we feed?”

Darcy straightens herself, trying to look as brave as possible. “This doesn’t scare me. It’s necessary. I understand it’s something he must do, what all vampires must do.”

Aoife sighs, wiping her mouth of the blood. “Moira said this wouldn’t scare you.”

“Well, Moira was correct. Can we go home now?” Darcy feels the icy cold stare of a vampire on her back and realizes Rebecca is behind her. She turns around, and Rebecca is near the horses, watching her with interest. Darcy starts heading towards her. Helen and Paris are back to their excitable selves, jostling for Rebecca’s attention. She kneels and gathers the pugs close with a laugh, standing with them in her arms. 

“So, were you scared, Darcy?” Rebecca teases as Darcy starts untying her horse from the tree.

“Nope.” Darcy quickly gets onto her horse and sets off towards the castle with Rebecca and Aoife following.

——

Darcy sighs as she leaves James’ tower, wondering if she’d remember how to get outside. The vampires would still be able to hear her, probably, but that didn’t matter. What she was about to tell her aunts they could hear too. Luckily, Darcy made it outside without getting turned around and, now, with two tag-alongs. Rebecca’s pugs, still donning their respective plaid sweaters, Helen in green and Paris in navy blue, they yipped about her ankles while she walked around in the gardens. It doesn’t take long for someone to answer the call once she dialed the number. 

“ _ Danvers - Rambeau residence, how can I direct your call? _ ” 

“I didn’t expect you to answer the phone, Monica,” Darcy laughs, leaning down to find a small stick for the pugs she can throw. 

_ “Darcy! I’ve missed you! How’s Ireland? Are leprechauns real?! _ ”

Monica could talk a mile a minute if given a chance. Darcy laughs again as she throws the stick she found for the dogs. 

“I’ve missed you, too! Ireland is cold, and I haven’t seen any leprechauns yet. Maybe they’re afraid of vampires.” 

There is suddenly a muffled conversation, and Monica sighs into the receiver. 

“ _ Well, I would talk longer, but Auntie Carol’s hovering, so I guess that means she wants the phone _ ,” Monica says before there is some rustling, then Carol’s voice comes through the speaker. 

“ _ Darcy _ !” 

“I’m sorry I haven’t called. It’s been a bit exciting here in the Emerald Isle.” 

“ _ What’s happened?! Are you hurt, _ ” Carol shrieks, always going to the worst-case scenario first. 

“No, I’m fine. Vampires have weird rules, though. It’s all very archaic and caveman if I’m honest.” 

Darcy throws the stick for the pugs again, laughing when Paris nearly trips in his haste to chase it. 

“But, this Congregation vampire  _ did _ come. How come I’ve never heard about the Covenant?” 

Carol sighs, the beep of a button indicating the call was now on speaker. 

“ _ Well, honey, you’d refused to talk about magic. Carol and I thought the Covenant wasn’t relevant to your life, _ ” Maria quips. 

“Well, now it’s relevant to my life. After the Congregation vampire left, James did, too. I’m worried he’s trying to break off...whatever it is we have.”

“ _ Good _ ,” Carol shouts from the background. 

Darcy grumbles, sitting on one of the benches in the garden. Paris and Helen sit at her feet, looking up at her with their squished faces. She leans over and gives them each an ear scratch. 

“Well, if Carol must know, I love James and all the bad stuff that comes with him. I don’t care about some agreement that was made by old white men, okay? I thought the two of you would understand, you know, since people side-eyed your relationship once.” 

“ _ Honey, it’s just, the Congregation will do anything they can to stop an interspecies relationship. Also, how does James feel about all of this… _ ” Maria asks, sounding sadder than angry. 

“Well, uh, he hasn’t actually said how he feels. Yet. But, why would he take me to his family home if he felt nothing for me,” Darcy wonders, dashing angrily at the tear sliding down her cheek. 

“ _ I don’t know, jellybean. Well, Carol and I have to go shopping, so we’ll talk later? Okay? _ ” __

“Yeah, sounds good.”

Darcy ends the call, slipping her phone back into her pocket. She slips the sleeves of the red Henley over her hands. It was the same one James was wearing the first time Darcy saw him in the library. Taking in the spicy scent from the fabric, she could imagine he was here and not on the other side of the Atlantic. 

——

Darcy awakes the next morning to soft calls of her name. When she opens her eyes, Rebecca is standing at the end of the bed; all dressed up like she has to be somewhere. 

“Rebecca?” Darcy’s voice is rough with sleep. 

“Good morning! Get up and get dressed. We’re going to the village.”

Darcy can’t help the yawn that escapes her lips as she stretches her arms. “Okay.” As much as she would prefer to lay in bed for the whole day, she knows Rebecca won’t allow it. She gets out of bed, goes about her morning routine, dresses, and heads down to the kitchen for a quick bite to eat. Moira has made delicious muffins that Darcy eats two of. Once ready, she heads out the front door with Helen and Paris at her feet following her. Darcy is surprised when she finds both Rebecca and Aoife waiting for her. 

“Why are we going to the village?” Darcy asks, face showing confusion. 

“I think it’s time I told you about Séamus’ and Ríobhcas’ history.” Aoife gives her a pat on her arm. 

“Okay…”

“We’ve been around for over 1,500 years, and you’ve known us for such a short time. We’d like to show you some things,” Rebecca clarifies, linking Darcy’s arm with hers. 

_ Another test, then. _

Darcy frowns. “Okay.”

The walk to the village was quiet. Darcy thought about what she was going to find out about James. She knew she loved him, and she knew anything that his family told her wouldn’t sway her feelings. She felt a connection to him, something deep in her soul that told her they belonged together. They’ve arrived in the village when Aoife breaks the silence. 

“They were born in this village,” she reminisces. “Séamus was so full of life growing up and wanted to be just like his father, who was a craftsman. When he was older, he took over the work after his father passed.” They came upon an old church with a tall bell tower all made from stone. “Séamus built this tower with his bare hands.”

Darcy’s mouth opens in awe at the bell tower. “James built this? It’s beautiful.” She starts walking towards the building to gaze upon the stonework, transfixed with the idea that James had built it over 1,500 years before. She touches the stone gently. 

“Let’s go inside, Darcy,” Rebecca says, a sad smile on her face. 

Darcy follows them inside. The church was ancient but still used by the village. Aoife was at one of the candelabras, lighting a candle before crossing herself. Darcy walks past the pews to the front where on the ground was a slab that had Gaelic written on the top. Darcy looks over her shoulder to ask Aoife what the inscription meant. As the woman approaches, Darcy takes a seat on the front pew. 

“Perfect Peace, Lyra, and James,” Aoife translates, stopping next to Darcy. 

“Who… who were Lyra and James?” 

“Before Séamus was turned, he had a wife and son.”

Darcy frowns. “....What happened to them?”

“A fever came through the village. Séamus avoided it, but his wife and son, who had just turned five, became sick and perished. Séamus had been working on this church at the time and laid the stone in their memory.” Aoife says. 

Darcy had a lot to think about. The loss James had experienced so long ago saddened her. But glad that at least he still had his sister. 

Aoife pulls Darcy from her thoughts. “Lyra will always be Séamus’ one true love. For what little life they had together, she provided him with a son. That’s something you will never be able to do. Since he was reborn, he’s never mated, and I don’t believe he ever will. He’ll never feel the same way about you.” 

Aoife was purposefully trying to upset Darcy, and she wasn’t having it. She squares her shoulders, looking Aoife straight in the eye. “I’m never leaving him.”

Aoife scoffs. “You will. You don’t have the lifespan of a vampire. One day you will be only a memory, and Séamus will have to continue living, like how he did after Lyra.”

Aoife walks away to light some more candles. Rebecca put a hand on Darcy’s shoulder to try and comfort her. Darcy appreciates the gesture; she hadn’t thought about her mortality. All Darcy knew was that she wanted to spend the rest of her life with James. 

If he’d have her. 

She decides she needs some fresh air, heading out the door. Aoife and Rebecca soon followed her out. 

“Séamus was sired in this church,” Aoife says, looking up at the looming tower. Darcy follows her gaze. “We never knew if he had slipped or if he jumped. He was found on the ground horribly broken and on the brink of death. I decided rather quickly to offer him the chance of a new life.” Aoife shook her head, a look on her face like she remembered the moment. “I’ve never been quite sure if he knew what he was doing, accepting to be turned. He could barely nod his head in consent.”

“I’d just been married when James was reborn. Part of my heart died with him when I believed him gone,” Rebecca whispers, looking at the ground where James had landed. Her gaze is seeing something Darcy’s can’t. 

“If I had the opportunity to save his life with my blood, I would.” Darcy stares at the ground where he would have laid. Suddenly, images of him lying there in pain flood her mind, making her heart hurt. The air whooshes past her ears, and Darcy can feel a hot summer sun on her cheeks. Unfamiliar smells permeate the air. People whisper in Gaelic, and she hears a horrible wail come from someone that sounds a lot like Rebecca. A pool of blood slowly spreads outward from a very human James’ skull. His heaving breaths will be hard to forget. 

_ Oh, boy, a new power. You can pick up on impressions of past events. What kind of witch am I..?”  _

Darcy shakes her head to dislodge the horrible time slip. She decides not to mention it. At least, not until she talks to her aunts. 

“I had watched him grow from just a babe to an adult, and then he became my child.” Aoife began walking back towards the castle. 

Darcy had to sprint to catch up. “Did he adapt well to the change?”

“Like most young vampires, he had to feed constantly, but he was also in a rage at being sired. I only recall one clear moment he had when he realized there was a way to save Ríobhca from the fever that took his wife and son.”

“And thank goodness, he did,” Rebecca says. 

“I just can’t picture him being like that.” Darcy muses. “He seems so in control of himself.”

“There were periods where he’d be off doing things my husband didn’t want me to know about. It was a dark time.”

Darcy is silent the rest of the way back to the castle. Rebecca seems to understand she needed time to think and just stuck with her in an attempt to be a strong presence. 

Darcy is glad to have her. 

——

Darcy was working in James’ study, taking up residence at his desk as she worked on her computer, answering her many emails that had accumulated since she left New Haven. 

James’ desk was ancient-looking and beautifully crafted. She had to wonder if he made it himself, with the detail that was put into it. She had just finished an email when curiosity got the best of her. She decides to look in the drawers, slowly opening it. Inside were various pens, paperclips, and office supplies, but something does catch her eye. Darcy tentatively pulls out the object. It was a very old toy. Darcy’s heart pangs with the realization that it probably once belonged to James’ son, and she gently places it back where it was and closes the drawer once again. She moves to the other drawer, but it won’t open. 

With a desk as old as this one, there had to be a secret unlocking mechanism. Darcy felt like Indiana Jones as she explores the desk, trying to figure out how it unlocks. She finds a latch underneath the drawer that allows it to open. 

“Yes!” Darcy says to herself as she slowly opens the drawer. Inside was an ornate box. Darcy picks it up and sets it on top of the desk before slowly opening it. Laying on soft velvet are three seals, the middle one was the largest, and Darcy’s eyes are immediately drawn to the writing on it. Luckily, Darcy could read it since it was in Latin. She touches the letters as she reads what it said.

“The Knights of Lazarus of Bethany,” Darcy whispers to herself. 

She looks to the seal on the left, and it had James’ initials carved into it. Darcy smiles; the seals were ancient. Darcy had to wonder what the Knights of Lazarus were. Were they like the Templars? She chewed on her lip, thinking of all the possibilities. She puts everything back and then turns off her computer, deciding to read one of the many books in James’ study. She curls up on the couch by the fire, Alpine laying on the ground near her, purring softly. She only got a few pages into the book before her phone starts ringing. She sighs, thinking it was Carol. She lifts the phone, and her heart skips a beat when she realizes it was James. 

“Hello?” She tries not to sound too excited. 

“Hey. How are you doing?” James sounds very calm. 

“I’m, uh, okay? Your mom and sister have been keeping me busy. I’ve been learning quite a bit about you.” Darcy says, smiling. 

James groaned. “I hope nothing too embarrassing.”

“No, nothing embarrassing,” They’re quiet for a second. “I wasn’t expecting to hear from you. Um, how’s the lab?” Darcy winces. 

“Luckily, nothing was taken.”

“That’s good. Do you know who did it? I’m assuming witches.”

James sighs. “I don’t want you worrying about it.”

Darcy frowns. 

_ What do you mean I shouldn’t worry? _

“Okay,” Darcy says softly. “Well….I should be getting to bed. Goodnight, James.”

“Sweet dreams, Darcy.”

She ends the call, tossing her phone onto the couch. Darcy misses James a lot, but he was being so difficult. Hopefully, he would come to his senses and return to her soon.

“Well, Alpine.” The cat opened its eyes at its name being called. “Let’s get some sleep.” The cat stretched out before meowing and following her as she got up to head to bed. 

——

The next day, Darcy was awoken by the curtains being pulled back and streams of light invading the darkness. 

“Darcy, get up!” Rebecca says. 

“What… what’s going on?” Darcy mumbles, still half asleep. 

“Bucky called this morning. He’s on his way back and should be here any moment.”

Darcy’s eyes fly open at the mention of James. “What?!”

Rebecca approaches the bed, taking a seat next to her. “Yeah, he called early this morning. We didn’t want to wake you.”

Darcy’s mind starts racing. 

_ James is coming back! _

Darcy unceremoniously jumps out of bed. “I have to get ready!” 

Darcy doesn’t even see Rebecca move, but she’s suddenly in front of her. The vampire points to clothes already laid out on the chair. “I picked out an outfit for you.”

Darcy flings her arms around Rebecca. “You’re a lifesaver.” The vampire chuckles. 

“Get ready.” Rebecca pulls away, leaving Darcy to get changed. The outfit is simple and comfortable. Darcy quickly dresses before running down the stairs, through the house, and out the door. James suddenly comes into view; he stops when he sees her. Darcy stops short, her heart beating wildly in her chest. He looks relieved to see her. There’s one thing Darcy wants to know. 

“How do you feel about me, James?” 

His gaze is intense. “If I tell you, that’s it. We can’t go back. I need you to know all that entails.”

Darcy smiles. “Your mom and sister made sure I have an idea of what I’m getting myself into. What’s your answer?”

James closes the distance between them, putting a hand up almost like he’s expecting a high five. Darcy resists the urge to high five him and places her palm against his. His eyes never leave hers. “From this moment, we will always be one,” he laces their fingers together. “I love you,” he pulls her in, crushing their lips together. Their arms go around one another, pulling each other deeper into the kiss. Darcy’s overwhelmed with the love she feels for him, their mouths moving together easily. He puts everything he has into the kiss, and Darcy feels it down to her toes. They slowly part, staring into each other's eyes, still holding one another. “We should probably go tell Ma and Becca the news.” He gives her a big smile. Darcy can’t help but smile back. They hold hands as they walk back into the house. 

Aoife and Rebecca are seated on the couch, Rebecca has a huge smile on her face, and Aoife looks pensive. It’s quiet for a moment before Aoife speaks up. “You’re sure this is what you want to do?” She rises from the sofa to approach Darcy and James. 

“If you want us to leave, we will,” James said.

Aoife scoffs, “When have I ever asked you to leave?” She reaches out, cupping one of his cheeks, “You’re my sweet boy, Séamus.  _ My _ son.” Aoife looks over to Darcy, “And now I have another daughter. Your lives will not be easy, but your battles will be mine.” She moves away from James, opening her arms to Darcy. Darcy feels that this is important, so she hugs Aoife, and when they part, Aoife keeps her hands on Darcy’s arms. “You are strong. If you have the strength to love my boy, you have strength over many things. We Brants defend ourselves, and now you’re one of us.” Aoife leads her back to James’ side. He wraps an arm around her, pulling her into his body. 

Rebecca approaches them, a big smile on her face. “Welcome to the family, sister.”

Darcy smiles back. She felt relieved that James’ family had accepted her as one of their own. She leaned into James, feeling content for the first time since he left for New Haven. 

——

Darcy was on cloud nine to be back in the company of James, knowing he loved her. She was giddy. He led her up to his tower, where Moira had already gotten a fire started. They settled on the couch by the fire, James tucking her under his arm. She let out a contented sigh at being near him, the scent of cloves and cinnamon fresh in the air and filling her with warmth. 

“This is nice.” She says, looking up at him. 

He gives her a lopsided smile, pulling her even closer. “It is.” He brushes his lips across the top of her head. “I found out something while I was in New Haven. About your DNA.”

Darcy’s eyebrows knit together. “What… what did you find out?”

James pulls out a folded piece of paper from his jeans’ pocket, careful not to jostle their comfortable seating arrangement. He hands it to her, Darcy carefully holding it in her palm. This could have answers to what she was, answers that her aunts didn’t even have. Her pulse picks up, intrigue heavy on her mind. “We don’t understand it fully.” Darcy opens the paper, looking at all the DNA sequences. She wasn’t a biologist, so she didn’t understand what any of it meant. 

“Okay, what does this mean?”

“That’s the crazy thing. It shows that you have every genetic marker that we’ve found in witches.” 

Darcy’s eyes widen. “What?”

“Yeah. You’ve got elemental markers for air and water.” James points at lines on the paper. 

“Witch wind and witch water,” Darcy whispers. 

“And earth.” He points at another line. “So, you probably could cast spells.”

“This is crazy. I’ve never felt drawn to magic my whole life, and you’re saying I have these abilities. Why is it all happening now?” 

“It’s acting like it’s been lying dormant, and now it’s restless and has to get out.”

Darcy moves from the comfortable position they were in, putting a little distance between them on the couch. She frowns. “My parents were murdered because of their powers.”

James quickly grabs her hands, giving them gentle, reassuring squeezes. “I’m here now, and I won’t let anything happen to you. We will get through this together.” Darcy moves a hand up to his face, rubbing her fingers along his cheek. James leans into the touch, giving her a small smile. “I also need to talk with you about something else....” Darcy’s hand drops. James sighs, slowly getting up from the couch. Darcy sets down the paper and follows him up. She’s had enough serious conversations for the evening and would prefer if the evening took a more naked turn. 

“James Barnes, I don’t want to talk about New Haven or the Congregation or any other thing you think we need to talk about.” She wraps her arms around his neck, pulling him down for a kiss. His arms move around her, pulling her closer. One minute she’s on her own feet and the next James has her in a bridal carry. Darcy squeaks at the sudden shift in position. “What are you doing?” He carries her to the bedroom. 

His eyes were dark with lust, and he gave her a smile that made her stomach flip. “I want to find out what you know about bundling?” Once in the bedroom, he gently sets her down, his arms staying around her waist. 

“I’m familiar with the custom, but it  _ is _ 2020\. That seems kinda old-fashioned for a modern couple like us,” Darcy teases with a wink. 

James moves a hand up to her neck, pulling her in for another kiss. This one leads to Darcy’s hands immediately moving to start removing his shirt. He stops her hands, and she lets out a frustrated groan. James chuckles. “I just want to give you a warning that you might not like what you see.” Darcy looks at him, confused. How could she not like what she sees? Darcy stared at him in long-sleeved shirts the entire time they’ve been together, and she was ready to get a glimpse of his skin. She pulls him down for a reassuring kiss before moving her hands back to his shirt, moving it up and off his body, discarding it on the floor. Her breath catches when she finally glimpses at his torso. Her hands run down his chest and over his abdomen as she takes in the various scars littered across his skin. Her hands never leave his body, gently touching each old wound. She begins walking around him, her eyes drawn to the largest scar on his left arm and shoulder. 

“James.” She whispers, pressing her lips to the scar on his shoulder. She continues to his back, where the scar continues. 

“Uh, that’s from the Hundred Year’s War. A broadsword, I believe. The other knight had something to prove and tried to take off my whole arm,” James says softly like he doesn’t want to spook her. Darcy cannot believe how many scars that he has, marks of his past. He’s had to have seen hundreds or even thousands of battles in his time. Darcy presses a kiss to another scar on his back. She suddenly feels very protective of James. 

She moves to the front of him, staring him in the eye. “I want to hunt down all who have harmed you.”

James leans forward, capturing her lips in a searing kiss. He picks her up easily, their lips never leaving one another, and he sets her on the bed, deepening the kiss. Darcy’s on her back with a 1500-year-old vampire on top of her, and it feels perfect. 

He breaks the kiss, “You’re my everything and when your life ends, so will mine.” He leans back in, kissing her with so much love and passion, 

Darcy moans at the ferocity of his cold lips on hers. When he moves away, Darcy lets out a sad sound that quickly turns into a moan as his hand moves into her pants to her wet heat. 

Darcy’s head falls back at the first feel of his fingers moving through her slick folds, and then she’s grabbing hold of his shoulders as James expertly works her over with his hand. He seems to know exactly how she likes to be touched, using his thumb to rub the sensitive bundle of nerves while two fingers were inside her, zeroing in on that delicious spot that has her seeing stars. Darcy can’t help gasping out his name over and over again as she feels her orgasm building tight, and then he’s snaking his other hand up her shirt, pulling her bra cup down so he can tweak her nipple and it all has her falling over the edge, her orgasm hitting hard in waves. Her hands end up in his hair, tugging gently as she comes down from it. 

“H-Holy shit.” Darcy breathes. 

James chuckles, as he removes his hands from her body and moves back up her to stare into her eyes, a big smile on his face. “That’s how we do bundling.”

Darcy can’t help but laugh, pulling his face closer to hers. “You really know how to use your hands.” She kisses him, then pushes him to lay on his back. “Let me show you something a bit more modern.” She gives him a smoldering look as she drags her hands down his chest. 

She enjoys the feel of his muscles under her hands. She gets to his pants, quickly unbuckling them. He was already hard, and he gasps when she touches his cool flesh. Darcy went to work with her mouth and hand, thoroughly enjoying his moans and gasps of pleasure as she worked him over. His hands were bunched up in the sheets, and when he came, “Darcy!” Escaped his lips. She smiles afterward, happy with herself over how easily she made him fall apart. She crawls back up to curl in next to him, his arm going around her shoulder.

He looks into her eyes, a big, dopey smile on his face. “You’re amazing.”

“You just like the swirly thing I did with my tongue.” She says with a smirk.

James looks a bit bashful. “I mean, that was great. But you are something else and amazing. I love you.” He pulls her in for a kiss.

“I love you too,” she says between kisses.

They spent the rest of the night “bundling”. James politely told Darcy he wanted to hold off on sex, so there was a lot of touching until they fell asleep together, wrapped around one another. Darcy slept very well, and when she woke up, James was still asleep. Darcy marvels at him, in bed next to her. She gently places a kiss on his shoulder, hoping that he stays asleep. When he doesn’t wake, Darcy decides to go for a run. She quietly dresses and is surprised when she doesn’t run into any of the other castle residents as she makes her way outside. Darcy begins her run out and through the garden, going for a while until she’s winded. She finally stops for a second to catch her breath and enjoys the coolness of the morning. 

And then something grabs hold of her by the arms from behind and lifts her in the air. 

Darcy screams as she rises higher and higher. She looks up to find a witch holding onto her. It’s the witch that threatened her while she had been jogging that one day. Darcy is suddenly filled with fear. 

_ They’ve come for me. _


	6. New Allegiances, Old Animosities

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: violence, torture, nonconsensual vampire biting
> 
> This is a very oof chapter. Angst, hurt/comfort. Please take care of yourself. If you think we should tag anything specific, please let me know.

Darcy is high up in the air, dangling from the other witch’s arms. She’s scared to move at all in fear she’ll tumble down to her death. They fly over the countryside, over some hills, until she spots a crumbling castle in the distance. It must be where she’s being taken. She didn’t think witches could fly too far, so she knew they were still in Ireland. 

That meant James could, hopefully, find her. 

They’re over a courtyard when the other witch unceremoniously drops Darcy to the ground. Darcy lands hard, crying out from the impact. She knows she’s going to bruise later, but luckily she doesn’t feel that any bones have broken. She takes a moment to get her bearings before getting up, groaning at the effort. The other witch is a distance, so Darcy decides to run for it. She sprints to an open doorway, but a dangerous-looking vampire is coming at her. She backs up quickly into the courtyard. 

The vampire tsks. “Where do you think you’re going?”

Darcy just keeps stepping back until she’s up against a wall. She’s in a full-on panic as the vampire approaches her. He takes a whiff of the air and snarls. “She smells like Barnes. Can’t even tell where her scent starts and his ends.” He gets close, grabbing her chin roughly. He moves her head around to look at her face. “What about you has drawn Barnes? Is it lust? Or the book?” Darcy does her best not to look at him, feeling fear threatening to choke her. She knew the vampire could probably smell it on her. “You know, Barnes always had a weakness for women.”

“Get away from her!” The other witch growls. She steps closer to Darcy and the vampire, looking ready to fight. 

“Ava, you promised I could examine her.” The vampire glares at the other witch.

“We had a plan, Rumlow. I got her from the impenetrable castle. I get to go first.” Ava glares back. 

Rumlow puts his hands up in defeat. “Fine.” He says and begins heading back through the door he came through. With the vampire gone, Darcy can now focus on the witch. 

_ Ava….  _

  
  


“Why am I here?” Darcy is breathing heavily as her fear causes her to tremble.

“Calm down, Darcy. We’re witches. I won’t harm you.” 

Darcy begs to differ, narrowing her eyes. She decides to try and run again, but, this time, Ava mutters words that cause all the doors in the courtyard to slam shut.

_ So much for an exit strategy. _

Darcy ends up back in the middle of the courtyard, still trying to stay as far from Ava as possible. 

“You can’t get out, and I’ve put a spell on the courtyard so no one can hear us.” Ava takes another step towards Darcy, blue-gray eyes glinting in the weak sunlight. “Now, tell me how powerful you are.”

Darcy scoffs. “Listen here, Sabrina. I’m not powerful. I don’t do magic. I’ve  _ never _ shown magical aptitude.”

“...Is that why you didn’t fly when I dropped you?”

“Duh!” 

“I’m having a hard time believing you were never taught magic. You’re a witch! And from such powerful bloodlines.” Ava slowly begins approaching Darcy. “It’s a shame they didn’t teach you. That’s a part of growing up as a witch, parents teaching their young the basics and how to utilize their growing powers.” Ava grabs one of Darcy’s hands, “Allow me to show you.” Her hands are glowing orange. “I can help you control it.” Darcy feels like she’s getting a villain speech. A really shitty villain speech. 

“Cut the speech, Ava! Just tell me what you want.” 

“I want to show you what you can become. You’ve been alone for so long.”

“I’m not alone,” Darcy says through gritted teeth.

Ava’s eyes narrow. “You mean the vampire?” A shot of energy rushes from Darcy’s hand, causing her to jump back, gasping at the shock. Ava remains calm after the show of power. “See, you need a teacher. Someone to teach you how to protect yourself from Barnes.” Ava approaches Darcy again. “We have to hurry though, Rumlow has plans for you, and if you want to get out of this alive, you need to work with me,” she says conspiratorially like she wants what’s best for Darcy. Darcy is well aware that this is a lie. The witch wants her power, and Darcy absolutely will not give it to her. 

“That was cute and all,” Darcy says, rounding on Ava. “But I need no protection from James. You’re the one who kidnapped me,  _ not _ James. You’re not going to get anything from me.”

Darcy begins walking away. She doesn’t know where she’ll go, but she wants to get away from Ava.

“So, you do have something to hide.” Darcy stops short. “You know Barnes only wants the book. You believe he has feelings for you?” Ava laughs. “He’ll get the book and be done with you.”

“You don’t know anything about James!” 

“He’ll get rid of you like he did Minerva.”

“What are you talking about?”

“She broke into his lab, trying to steal secrets.”

“Because she’s working for Pierce, just like you. You both do his bidding.”

“Did James not tell you what he did?” Ava asks. Darcy frowns, confusion on her face. “Minerva’s dead.” Darcy’s eyes widen. “Her body was found by the New Haven coven leader.”

“You’re lying!” Darcy shakes her head. “James wouldn’t!”

“The evidence begs to differ. There were bite marks, and she was completely drained of blood.”

Ava puts out a hand, murmuring words as energy tries to get inside Darcy’s head. Darcy throws out a hand, screaming, “Stop!” An orange burst is exploding from her hand at Ava. The witch stumbles from the blow, eyes wide. 

Ava smiles viciously. “There it is. You can protect your mind, but let’s see what else you can do.”

Darcy tries running for a door, trying to push it open. The clamp of metal from the ancient portcullis echoes against the stone around her. 

“You should be ashamed of yourself, Darcy. You are betraying your own kind for a vampire. You’re a traitor. What would your parents think of your… relationship?”

Darcy whirls around, storming towards Ava. “You don’t get to talk about my parents!” Darcy grabs at the other witch, not really sure what her plan is. Her hands land on the other woman’s jacket and neck. She clenches the fabric of Ava’s jacket, using her other hand to force Ava to look her in the eye. “They were betrayed by witches!” Wind starts whipping up around the two of them, getting more and more violent. 

“Such a pathetic display of witch wind. It will not affect me.” Ava pushes Darcy back, the wind fading. 

“You’re wrong, Darcy. I researched what happened to them.”

“The witches covered up their murders. If you don’t believe me, ask Pierce!” 

Ava frowns. “If that’s true, then it’s probably because they were keeping secrets. Something you seem to be doing too.”

Darcy backs up. “What, you’re going to kill me? Like my parents? Then will you cover it up to save face?”

“I’ll do what’s necessary to get the information I need.” Ava pulls out what looks like a small drum from her pocket and begins tapping her fingers against it. Energy starts pulsating from the drum. “I call upon the elements.” Darcy doesn’t like the energy that’s starting to flow around the two of them. The weather is beginning to turn stormy, thunder crashing above. “I call up the dark and light to illuminate what is hidden. Power, power, I open thy. Power, power let thy power tie with I.” Ava throws the drum and holds out her hand, something invisible wraps around Darcy’s neck, lifting her from the ground. Darcy’s legs swing in the air.

“Reveal your secrets!” Ava shouts. 

“Are... you... seriously... force… choking... me?” Darcy chokes out. She could not believe this witch was force-choking her like some kind of Darth Vader wannabe.

Ava throws Darcy to the ground, then, after a moment, picks Darcy back up again with the invisible grip and throws her again. Darcy can feel a cut on her forehead from hitting a rock. “Stop!” Darcy pleads, suddenly very afraid for her life. 

Ava wasn’t playing games anymore. 

The other witch lifts her again, this time turning her upside down and creating a circle of fire. Ava turns Darcy away from her so she can see Darcy’s back. Darcy can’t see what she’s doing. She suddenly feels agonizing pain throughout her body as Ava begins reciting an incantation. Darcy can’t help but scream, the pain unbearable. She can only move her head and thrashes it around as she screams. 

“ _ Show me your secrets, Darcy, and it will be over! _ ” Darcy hears in her head. Darcy can’t even speak. The pain begins weakening, and Ava shouts, “No!” The pain stops. “You haven’t won.” Ava murmurs. Ava begins muttering an incantation again, and Darcy feels burning on her back. She starts screaming again as something is being seared into her skin. After what feels like an eternity, the pain stops again, and she’s falling onto the ground and then darkness. 

When Darcy comes to, she’s not in the courtyard anymore. The room is made of stone, and water drips from the ceiling. She winces, a pained noise coming from her gritted teeth. Blinking, she sees a solitary window high up on the wall. Sunlight streams weakly through the opening. 

“Welcome back to the world of the living, witch.”

Darcy starts, hissing in pain when her back spasms and the world goes dangerously fuzzy for a moment. When her vision is set to rights, she locks eyes with the vampire from earlier. He’s perched on an old wooden chair, dark eyes glinting in the faint sunlight. 

He looks every inch the predator. 

“Where’s Ava?” Darcy says quietly, managing to pull herself up into a sitting position. 

“I’ve put her where she needs to be. She couldn’t open you up, so now it’s my turn.”

A violent shiver racks Darcy’s body. There had to be a way to talk herself out of this. 

“I don’t have any power! Just let me go. I won’t tell anyone about what happened here today, just let me go! Please!”

The vampire smirks and stands from his old chair, walking towards her in large strides. He bends over and sniffs her hair, humming at what he must smell. Another violent shiver travels through her. A sharp pain travels down her back from the jerking motion, causing another pained gasp to echo against the stone. 

“The smell of your blood says otherwise. Is that why Barnes seduced you? Because he could smell how powerful you are? The Book of Life could’ve been an added bonus,” the vampire quips, taking another sniff of her hair. 

“No, that’s not what it was like!” 

Darcy tries to get away, but she just pulls at the injury on her back, and she’s falling to the stone floor again. She’s so cold and tired. She just wants to sleep. The vampire suddenly moves quickly, burying his face in her neck. A searing pain in the muscle of her shoulder and upper arm has her screaming, tears being squeezed out of her eyes. 

_ He’s biting me… _

The vampire bodily lifts her from the floor, keeping his teeth firmly locked in her flesh. The more he drinks, the weaker she feels. She’s about to let the black take her when the vampire releases her, dropping her unceremoniously to the stone floor. Darcy coughs roughly, looking up at the vampire. 

“Did you learn anything useful?”

“As a matter a fact, I did,” he says, licking his lips and sucking some of her blood from the tip of his finger. 

“Then you know James didn’t seduce me, I welcomed his attentions,” Darcy rasps, glad glaring didn’t trigger any pain. 

The vampire scoffs, crouching down to be eye-level with her. 

“I wonder what he would do if I returned you to him as a broken thing, not worth his time.” 

Darcy feels sick, and she curls in on herself, begging silently for James to save her. 

———

When she comes to, Darcy is at the bottom of an old well. 

_ No...it’s not a well...An oubliette. Where they put you when they mean to forget about you.  _

Darcy’s shoulders ache from the vampire, apparently named Rumlow, using an old torture technique used to get accused witches to confess. She’d lost count how many times Rumlow put her through the wringer. He’d smiled the entire time, grilling her for information about James. She thought that he would bore quickly, but that had only been the beginning for her. Darcy had grossly underestimated how far Rumlow could go. 

_ No. I’m not going to think about him or what happened. He didn’t break me. You’re still who you were, just a bit more knowledgeable about James’ enemies.  _

Luckily, Rumlow viewed witches with such disdain; the attacks never went further than outward bodily harm. Darcy wheezes lightly as she rolls onto her side on the oubliette floor. At least there weren’t any skeletons down here. Not even the whisper of a ghost. The last thing she thinks before falling asleep is that she’s glad Rumlow cleaned out the hole at least before putting her down it. 

**_“Darcy, it’s time to get up.”_ **

**_Darcy opens her eyes. She’s lying on a smooth, reflective floor, and high above are webs. Her mother is crouched down next to her._ **

**_“Mom, tell me a story, but nothing bad.” Darcy’s voice is soft. Her mother smiles down at her. Darcy sees her father near her, looking just like he had the day at the library._ **

**_“Honey, you know I can’t skip the bad parts of the story. You have to be strong and face your fears.” Her mother grabs one of her hands, holding it gently. “Darcy was trapped in a dark room, all alone. She didn’t know how she’d ever get out.” Her mom begins getting up, pulling Darcy with her. “Then there was knocking at the door. It was the prince. He was strong and used his might to open the locked door.” Images of James appear in Darcy’s mind. “But the prince still couldn’t get to her.”_ **

**_“How does she escape?” Darcy begins looking around. There are so many webs, but above in the middle, she can see a bright light through the web._ **

**_Darcy’s mom looks to the bright light. “Darcy found a hole in the roof, just the right size for her to squeeze through. She called up to the prince.”_ **

**_“Fly down and lift me out,” Darcy says._ **

**_“The prince couldn’t fly, so Darcy had to help herself.”_ **

Darcy’s eyes fly open, a groan escaping her mouth. She hurts all over. “Mom?” She calls out, but she quickly realizes that she’s still trapped in the hole. She does her best to stay off her back; however, the slightest moves have her gasping from pain. After catching her breath, she decides she needs to try and get up. Slowly, she gets her legs under her and uses the walls as support as she brings herself up. It hurts so much that she can’t help the whimpers that escape her lips. She stares up at the opening of the hole, holding out hope that James will come and find her. She’s not sure how long she stares. But she suddenly hears a voice that she doesn’t recognize shouting, “Bucky, over here!”

And then she hears the voice she’s been longing for. “Darcy!” James calls. 

“James!” Two heads appear to look down at her. She can make out James’ long hair, and she can’t help but smile at the sight of him. “James, I’m stuck down here!”

“Don’t worry, Darcy, I’m coming down!” She sees a bit of a struggle as the other man shouts. “No, Bucky. You’d get yourself stuck down there, too!”

James snarls. “I need to get to her, Sam!”

“And we’ll figure out a way, man. Just calm down and let’s think.” 

Darcy feels tears streaming down her face. Her mother’s voice echoes through her head then. “ _ It’s time, Darcy. Remember the story. _ ”

“I have to fly,” Darcy whispers to herself. She puts her arms up, trying to will herself. She thinks of all the instances that she’s used her power over the last few weeks, trying to draw from that. But it doesn’t work. “Fly!” Darcy says, sounding very frustrated. 

Her father’s voice speaks into her mind. “ _ Don’t forget, jellybean. Magic is in the heart. _ ”

Images of James come to mind. Thinking of how much she loves him and how happy he makes her. 

“I can’t get to you, Darcy!” James shouts down at her. 

  
“Magic’s in the heart.” Darcy mumbles. Darcy set her eyes on James. “Fly.” She raises her arms, feeling the magic flow through her chest and outward, allowing her to begin to rise. James is staring down at her. 

“You’re doing it, Darcy! Keep going!” She keeps rising and rising, the magic never faltering until she’s almost to the top. James leans down, grasping her arms and pulling her up and out, holding her tight to his chest. She smells the cinnamon and cloves and immediately feels calm wash over her. Darcy did it. She escaped, and now she was back where she belonged, in James' arms. James picks her up easily and cradles her to him. 

“Let’s get her out of here.” The other man says. She keeps her eyes on James as they escape the castle. She hears the whirring of helicopter blades, and once they get to it, James lifts her and sets her gently into a seat before climbing in himself and sitting right next to her. The other man sits on the far side. She rests her head on James’ shoulder, and he pulls her hand into his, intertwining their fingers. The helicopter lifts off, and before she knows it, they’re landing again. James gets out first, grabbing onto one side of her, while the other vampire takes her other side, they lift her out and help her walk. They’re met at the entrance by Rebecca, who gasps at the sight of Darcy, then rushes to her, pushing Sam out of the way to help Darcy instead. They enter the house, where Aoife and Moira are waiting. 

“We’re so glad you’re safe.” Aoife looks relieved that Darcy seems to be in one piece. 

“....I need to call my aunts and let them know I’m okay. They must be very worried”, Darcy cringes at how rough her voice sounds. 

James pipes up. “Ma will call them and let them know you’re back.” Darcy looks up at him. His gaze is intense. “I’ll never let you go again.” Darcy gives him a smile and rests her head on his shoulder. He kisses the top of her head, pulling her closer to him. “Let’s get you seated.” He says into her hair, then starts walking her to the sitting room. He helps her onto a couch and kneels in front of her, looking over her wounds. Rebecca takes a seat next to her and grabs her hand, gently squeezing it to reassure her that she was safe. Darcy is thankful to have so many people who care about her present. James' expression is serious as he looks over her. He moves her hair away from her neck and snarls at the sight of the bite mark. Darcy closes her eyes for a brief moment as he gets up and begins pacing the room. 

“Bucky, calm down. You need to check her wounds.” Rebecca calls out to her brother. James runs his hands down his face and growls.

“It’s already healing, which means Rumlow used his own blood to seal the wound,” James says through gritted teeth. 

“And he won’t get away with it. Right now, you need to focus on Darcy.” Rebecca does her best to get through James' anger. James takes a couple of deep breaths and returns to crouch in front of Darcy. 

“Are you okay?” She gently asks.

His eyes are stormy. “No. But I need to make sure you’re okay.” As tenderly as possible, he begins checking her face. 

“Does anything look broken?” She doesn’t meet James’s eyes. 

“Just bruises on your face. I’ll need to get you cleaned up before I can do a more thorough check on the rest of your body.”

Darcy grimaces. She doesn’t want James to see how beat up she is. It’s bad enough he saw the bite. 

“You were so strong, Darcy….. _ Mo  _ _ mhadadh _ .”

“What does that mean?”

“My wolf.” Moira brings a basin of water and sets it on the table that’s next to James. Aoife brings in an old medical bag, putting it within reach. James grabs a cloth, getting it wet, and begins to clean Darcy’s face gently. “What happened?” James looks very concerned.

“This witch, Ava, wanted to find out about my powers. She did her best to open me up… and then Rumlow… Rumlow did all he could.” Darcy flinches when James touches a cut. At the mention of Rumlow, James’ face shows rage for a moment, before he controls his features again. “Maybe, we should get you into bed.”

Darcy nods. James carefully pulls her up, but when his arm touches her back, she winces in pain. James’ eyebrows knit together. “What’s wrong? What did I touch?”

Darcy grimaces. “It’s, uh, my back. Ava did something to me.”

“Let me check it out.” James rummages around in the medical bag until he finds a pair of scissors. “I need to cut your shirt off.”

Darcy nods. Rebecca steps closer, holding Darcy’s upper arm with her other hand. She keeps their fingers entwined while James looks for the scissors. Darcy hears the scissors cutting through the fabric in short order. Once the shirt’s open, everyone is eerily quiet. Darcy can feel the tension in the room. 

“What’s back there?” 

Rebecca exclaims something in a language Darcy doesn’t understand, but it sounded like a swear. 

“My symbol,” James says through clenched teeth. 

“What?” Darcy looks over her shoulder, meeting Aoife’s eyes. 

“....The witch branded you.”

“Can I see?” Darcy wants to see what was done to her. 

“You shouldn’t. You’ve been through enough.” Aoife says. 

“It’s fine. I handled it happening. I need to see what was done.” Darcy tries to make her voice sound brave. 

  
James sighs but he and Rebecca help her to a nearby wall mirror. Darcy winces at the sight of her face. James leans in close, placing a kiss on her head. “Are you sure you want to see?” 

“I need to.”

“Okay.” They slowly turn her, so her back is to the mirror. Rebecca carefully moves the shirt pieces out of the way, so they didn’t block the view. Darcy looks over her shoulder. Her breath gets caught in her throat when she sees. Burned into her skin is a massive star taking up the upper half of her back. It matches the symbol she’s seen on all the flags and tapestries she’d seen here. After a moment of processing, she turns back around, staring at herself in the mirror. 

“Ava tried to open me up. But she failed.” Darcy can’t help but feel a bit triumphant that she bested the other witch. Ava did everything in her power, but Darcy persevered. 

Soon after Darcy sees the brand, the rest of the family leave her and James alone. The couch in the sitting room felt like resting on a cloud after the stone floor in the crumbling castle. James drapes a soft blanket over her shoulders before coming around to sit beside her. It’s quiet for a moment, like neither of them can think of what to say. Darcy decides just to come right out and ask about Minerva. 

“James….Did you kill Minerva?”

He looks up at her with confusion. 

“No, I didn’t. I let her live, though I should’ve killed her for betraying you,” he says softly. 

Relief floods Darcy, and she manages a smile. 

“I’m glad you managed to control yourself. Minerva is a snake, but I don’t want you to start a war on my account.” Darcy gently leans her head on James’ shoulder, taking in the clove and cinnamon scent that she associates with  _ home _ . 

“Promise me something, James.” 

“Anything.” 

“Promise me that you won’t go after Ava and Rumlow. I can deal with Ava myself, and Rumlow will get what he deserves without us interfering.” 

James is quiet before she feels him nod and presses a gentle kiss to her hair. Darcy is about to doze off when she hears footsteps. 

“Well, well, well. These are the two lovebirds, huh?”

It’s the other vampire who’d saved her. 

“Sam, don’t, Darcy’s too tired to deal with your sarcasm. And I might slap you.” 

Sam raises his hands to soothe James. Darcy smiles softly at the new room occupant, giving him a weak thumbs up. 

“Thanks for helping James save me. I know we don’t know each other, but I’m glad you decided to help him.” 

“That witch trespassed on my land. Also, I’m not a fan of using torture to get answers. Rumlow is stuck in the 14th century still. He can fuck right off.” 

Darcy laughs a little, linking one of her hands with James’. Sam takes a seat on the arm of the couch, giving Darcy another once over like he’s looking for a wound they might’ve missed. 

“The two of you have shown you’ve got fight in you. When I return to Venice, I’ll be sure to make Ava trespassing on vampire land the main focus of the investigation. It will give you time to getaway. You’ll probably have to hide out for a while.” 

Darcy had seen that coming and had already resigned herself to that particular fact. James brushes his lips against her hair again, and Sam nods with a small smile before standing to leave. 

“Thank you, brother,” she hears James whisper so softly, she’s not sure she heard it. 

Sam nods again before heading to the front of the castle, saying goodbye to Aoife, Rebecca, and Moira before leaving. 

“Where will we go?” James wonders. “There aren’t many places where the Congregation won’t find us.” 

“Danvers. We’re going back to my aunts. The house has protection spells. Also, the ghosts are known to scratch trespassers.” 

Both laugh and spend the rest of the night talking before Darcy falls asleep against James’ shoulder. 

———

Darcy wakes the next morning to Alpine lying in James' spot and Rebecca sitting on the edge of the bed, watching her, the icy coldness brushing her face. 

“Hey, Rebecca.” Darcy yawns, hissing when she pulls at some sore muscle or errant scratch. Darcy was getting used to vampires being near and eerily quiet. “Where’s James?”

“He’s getting some more bandages from Moira. I, on the other hand, picked out some clothes for today that I think will be comfortable.” Rebecca got up from the bed, getting the clothes. It was an outfit Darcy would wear. Some soft-looking leggings and an oversized shirt that was stylish but would also be roomy for her back situation. 

“Thank you. It looks very comfortable.” Darcy says as she gets out of bed and heads for the bathroom. She went through her morning routine before getting changed into the outfit. Rebecca had seemed to vacate the room. The leggings were softer than they looked and felt heavenly on her legs, and the shirt didn’t cause her any pain. She also notices that her body felt better, which was weird since she had been beaten up and branded. Her face must have shown confusion. 

“What’s wrong?” Rebecca asks. Darcy jumped, hand going to her chest at the sudden appearance of Rebecca. “Sorry, didn’t mean to startle you.” Rebecca must not have been looking at her, which is why she hadn’t felt her gaze. 

“It’s fine. I just thought that my body feels, uh, different? Like I feel a bit free? I feel like I can breathe easier? Does that make sense?”

Rebecca gives her a thoughtful look. “Darcy, you must have been freed from your binds.”

Darcy’s eyebrows scrunched. “What do you mean?” 

“James will be here in a second, you should ask him.” Darcy frowns just as James comes through the door with a frown on his face. He must have heard what Rebecca told her.

“James, what does she mean?” He slowly approaches her, gently grabbing her hands once he’s in reach. 

“Darcy, this is gonna be hard to hear.” Darcy’s mind starts racing at all the things he could say next. He takes a breath, “We think someone spellbound you.”

Darcy’s eyes widen as she sucks in a breath. Spellbinding a witch was a horrible thing to do. Only the worst witches were spellbound to keep them from using magic. “What do you mean I was spellbound?”

“We don’t know how or why, but we think what happened when you were kidnapped released the bind.”

Darcy doesn’t want to believe this, and she shakes her head. “No, I couldn’t have been spellbound. If I was, why? Is there something wrong with me?” Tears come to her eyes. 

“Darcy,” Rebecca says, voice gentle, “Do you have any clue who would’ve done this to you?”

Darcy's head turns towards her. “No? I just, I don’t understand?” Tears start streaming down her face. “Witches who are spellbound are mad and hurt people.” She looks James in the eye. “What am I?” She chokes out. 

James’s hand comes up to cup her face. “We’ll get to the bottom of this.” He wipes a tear from her cheek. “I promise. You’re okay. We’ll talk to your aunts and figure this out together.” He pulls her into his arms, enveloping her in a big reassuring hug as she silently cries. 

_ What’s wrong with me? _


	7. Warning Signs

It takes about a week and a half for Darcy to feel well enough to travel. The ache in her shoulders had lessened, but there were still some bruises on her arms and legs. Rumlow’s bite mark was only a pale scar of his jaws. No matter how invisible it was to the naked eye, Darcy hated that it was there. 

_ He didn’t break you like he said he would. Just remember that.  _

Bucky relegated himself to bag-carrier when they left the castle. Aoife and Rebecca were waiting by the car to see them off. Darcy smiles when she hears Moira’s soft humming coming from over the garden wall. While James is busy putting the bags in his car’s trunk, Darcy stops in front of the two women. 

“Thank you for letting me stay here. I’m sorry I brought trouble.” 

Aoife shakes her head, dark hair catching the wintry breeze. 

“Don’t worry. This house has seen worse. You aren’t anything like hungry, bored knights, darling.” 

Rebecca snickers at that before nodding, as well. 

“Tell me the story later,” Darcy says to Rebecca with a wink. 

She’s surprised when Aoife pulls her into a gentle hug. Tears prick in Darcy’s eyes from the motherly gesture, and she can’t help but cling tightly to the lithe woman. After all the goodbyes, Darcy is sad to see the castle go out of the review mirror. 

“We’ll come back, little wolf, don’t worry,” he whispers, taking her hand and squeezing it gently. 

“I know we will,” Darcy replies, shifting her gaze to her window as she settles in for the drive. 

———

_ Home. _

Darcy hadn’t been back to Danvers in a year and a half, and coming back to the old farm made her smile. She exits the passenger side of the car, looking up at the house she’s been raised in after her parents were killed. A lot of her mom’s stuff was still here. Carol kept Elizabeth Lewis’s belongings in the attic, but there were a few momentos Darcy had kept in her childhood bedroom. A cool gaze on her cheek has her looking to the side, smiling as James approaches with the bags. 

“So, home, huh?”

“Yep. Massachusetts has great fall weather if Aoife doesn’t see it as beneath her to visit the United States.” 

James snorts and shoulders one of the bags. 

“The first time I was officially here, things weren’t so great for the  _ colonies, _ and Ma refused to come no matter how often George asked, so don’t get your hopes up.” 

Darcy laughs with him. James looks up at the house, too. She wonders what he’s thinking. 

Or remembering. 

“Did your aunts not know we were coming?” he asks as they climb the front steps.

The house begins to rattle, and Darcy gently taps the porch rail, cooing at the ghosts like Carol had taught her to. 

“Maria said they were giving us a few minutes to get settled. The ghosts misbehave when new people are around, and I don’t think you’d appreciate being tackled by a fourteen-year-old by way of a welcome.” 

“....So, it’s haunted?” 

“Of course it’s haunted, silly. We’re witches.” 

Darcy slowly opens the front door, holding up her hand to stop James from entering too quickly. She nods once she’s halfway inside, and the house hasn’t thrown any pots or pans at them, moving aside so James can fully enter. He puts their bags on the kitchen island as he takes in the mismatched vintage and new-age appliances and decor. A soft meow comes from the kitchen table, and Darcy smiles. 

“Tell me all about it, Goose. Don’t worry. You aren’t who we’ve come to interrogate,” Darcy wheedles as she gives the tabby a scratch behind the ears. 

“A cat named Goose,” the vampire interjects, sounding confused. 

“Oh, Carol adopted her from someone else. Goose had belonged to this fancy doctor she worked with when she was in the Air Force. All the pilots get callsigns, and, according to Carol, Goose got her own after winning a fight with one. One of those asshole Canadian ones.”

Goose meows in agreement and leaps from the table, purring and rubbing against their legs before she trots towards the living room. Darcy snickers, shaking her head. James joins in with a laugh, the musical sound-making Darcy smile. 

“Well, since we’re alone now….” James whispers, taking Darcy’s hand and pulling her towards him. She laughs before pressing her lips to his, getting lost in the cloud of clove and cinnamon as they head to the guest room that the house has been kind enough to add for them. 

The house really had a mind of its own when guests were coming and would add rooms. Nobody understood the physics of how it worked, but it came in handy when people were coming to stay. 

Much later, a car pulls up to the front of the house, and the dread that had been simmering in the back of Darcy’s mind was wrenched forward. The time for The Talk had come. Heading out to the porch, Darcy waits at the top of the stairs, arms loosely crossed. Maria is the first one to her, giving her a big hug. Darcy can’t help but return it despite her anxiety. She had missed her little family. 

“I told you the house wouldn’t like him,” Carol says triumphantly, Monica following close behind, dark eyes wide. 

“Rude. The house likes him fine,” Darcy snarks when Maria steps backward, her warm gaze falling on James as well as her. Darcy quickly introduces James to her family. “Well, now that we’re all here together, there is something that we need to talk about. As a family,” Darcy’s voice wavers, and she curses her unstable emotions. 

She turns away to head back into the house before anyone can say anything. Once everyone is settled in the living room, James on her left and Monica on her right and Carol and Maria have taken the love seat, and Goose has relegated James’ lap as her perch. Carol mutters ‘traitor,’ but Goose only blinks sleepily at her. Swallowing thickly, Darcy decides to just come out with it. 

“...Did-Did either of you know that I was spellbound…?” 

The silence in the room is deafening, which means at least someone had known. Monica clenches her arm, and Maria seems to be looking anywhere but her. Carol’s jaw has dropped, her eyes bugging out of her head. 

“....Auntie Maria…” her voice wavers, and she suddenly feels like a child again. James links their fingers, and he squeezes her hand gently. 

“I…..I thought that you might have been...Yes.”

Dread sinks into the pit of Darcy’s stomach. She feels like throwing up and passing out and sobbing all at the same time. 

“No, Darcy, you aren’t spellbound! There was no reason to do such a thing!” 

Carol’s voice is high with uncertainty. Darcy feels tears splash on her cheeks, but she doesn’t bother wiping them away. 

“Who would’ve done it,” she whispers hoarsely. “Is there something wrong with me..?” 

“No! No, jellybean, it wasn’t like that!”

Maria hurries to the sofa, crouching in front of Darcy, using her sleeve to dry her face. Monica’s small fingers grip Darcy tighter, and James’ hand does the same. 

“Then,  _ why _ ? Then who?” 

“Jellybean, you have to understand-“ 

“Who?!” 

The house begins to rattle, and fire explodes in the fireplace, making everyone jump in surprise. It’s silent for a few minutes. Darcy knows she caused the inferno to spark in the fireplace, so she avoids looking at it. She really would break down then. Maria swallows thickly before she breaks the encroaching silence. 

“....Elizabeth and William, Darcy. Baby, it was your parents.” 

At the sight of Maria beginning to cry, Darcy’s tears start to fall faster. 

“No, Maria! Elizabeth wouldn’t have! Why would she bind her daughter?!” Carol shouts from across the living room. 

“Because of Pierce,” Maria spits with malice, angrily wiping at her own eyes. “He wouldn’t wait until you turned thirteen before testing your powers. He was obsessed with the idea you’d inherited Elizabeth’s abilities. Your mother and William only did what they thought would keep you safe from that awful man.”

_ It all came back to Pierce, didn’t it? _

“I’ll kill him,” Darcy says through gritted teeth. 

With that, Darcy stands from the sofa and hurries out the front door, running towards the woods and away from her mounting problems. 

——

She’s not sure how far she runs. The house has disappeared from sight, and there were only trees as far as the eye could see. Stopping to catch her breath against a tree, she looks up at the trunk, catching sight of a weird groove in the wood. It looked like someone’s initials. Darcy reaches out a finger to trace the carving, swallowing thickly when the letters register. 

_ E L _

“Mom,” she says softly, feeling one last tear escape her swollen eyes. 

Footsteps echo behind her, and she turns, leaning back against the tree when she sees it’s James who’s joined her pity party in the woods. 

“There isn’t anything wrong with you, Darcy. I know that and your aunts know that. Your parents must’ve known they wouldn’t be around to see you grow up, so they did what they thought was right.” 

“Always so logical, huh?” 

Darcy laughs as she pulls away from the tree, closing the short distance between her and the vampire. 

“You know, being spellbound usually doesn’t go away. It lasts for your entire life unless whoever did it removes the binding.” 

“But not for you.” 

Darcy takes James’s hand, enjoying the cool feeling from his grip despite the borderline wintry weather. That had bothered her, too, but the run out here might’ve helped her find the answer. 

“I think they must have tied it to need rather than to a specific witch. I remember dad was smart about those kinds of things. He wouldn’t have made any rookie mistakes,” she snickers, feeling lighter than she had in months. 

“So if you ever needed magic, you could always call on it. I must say, it is pretty genius,” James replies, pulling her closer and into the circle of his arms. 

“I wonder if it was tied to you, too. Maybe you were the Shadow Prince that protected the witch wrapped in ribbons from my mom’s stories. Carol told me she’d been a pretty powerful seer. She must’ve seen us meeting. Maybe she also saw her death, as well as dad’s.” 

The thought has Darcy shivering in fear, her arm around James’s waist tightening. 

“I’d never want to be a seer. The elemental stuff and that weird time slip in Ireland are already leaving me frazzled. Plus that fire in the house.” 

“A time slip, you say,” James wheedles, releasing her hand so he can wrap his other arm around her. 

“Maybe if you behave around Carol, I’ll tell you about it.” 

Not that she ever wanted to think about James bleeding out on the cobblestones in front of the church again. She moves her arms up to wrap around his neck, pecking him on the nose, still annoyed she had to stand on her tiptoes to reach. James had no reason to be that tall. The vampire goes easy on her and bends his head down, so she doesn’t have to be on tiptoe anymore. The kiss is gentle, much like the first one they had after the witch wind incident. When Darcy knew he’d caught her in his web. 

“They must’ve known we’d fall in love, then,” she muses when she pulls back slightly. 

James’ smile is so sunny and wide; she can’t help but return it. Darcy leans her head on his chest, and he tightens his grip on her slightly, unconsciously rubbing one of his hands over the star-shaped brand on her back. A rustle of leaves and the tell-tale ghostly brush on her cheek has her looking up. 

_ Mom? _

The hazy form of her mother solidifies next to a nearby tree. Elizabeth Lewis is dressed how Darcy remembers, patchwork sweaters, and tattered jeans. The spirit smiles at her and nods, blowing Darcy a kiss. The last vestiges of her dark mood float away like their strings had been snipped. 

_ Thanks, mom. _

Darcy squeezes James tighter and enjoys their peaceful moment out in the woods. Maybe the last one they’ll enjoy for a while once the Congregation catches up to them. 

——

Darcy hears raised voices coming from the kitchen. It’s James and Carol and what she gathers from their conversation is that her aunt wants her to learn control, but James wants her to be able to protect herself. Darcy sighs as she approaches the kitchen, standing in the doorway watching James as he paces, clearly frustrated and her aunt sitting at the table with the family grimoire open. 

“Carol’s right,” Darcy interjects, she catches both of their attention. “I need to learn control. So I have to start my magical training all over again.” She looks James in the eye. “Will you teach me, self-defense?”

“Sure.”

“Okay. That settles it. Carol will help with my magic, and James will teach me self defense, so I’ll be able to use my powers against our enemies. When do we get started?”

Carol gets up from her chair. “We can get started now. I have the grimoire already out, let me just go get some supplies.” Carol leaves the room.

Darcy notices that James has a frown on his face. She approaches him, putting her hands on his chest. “We’ve got this. Don’t look so upset. I’ll work with Carol, and you can think about self-defense techniques you want to show me.” She gives him a reassuring smile. He covers her hands with his own, bringing her hands up to his lips to gently kiss them. 

“Okay. I’ll go figure something out.” Darcy tips up on her toes to kiss him. 

“Great!” James gives her one last kiss before leaving the room. Carol returns with a candle. 

“So, maybe we should start with something basic? Lighting a candle is pretty easy. The grimoire is already turned to the page you need.”

Darcy takes a seat at the table with the grimoire in front of her. Carol places the candle in the middle of the table. Darcy looks over the spell, memorizing the words. 

_ Okay, I got this. _

She stares at the candle and recites the words to the spell out loud. Nothing happens. Darcy frowns, rechecking the spell to make sure she’s saying it right. She tries again. It still doesn’t light. She continues repeating the spell and moving her hands, hoping that the candle will just light. She’s seen children witches light candles, and it shouldn’t be this hard for her. Darcy makes a frustrated noise.

“It’s not about just saying the words.” Carol pipes up. “You have to focus on your desire. It’s all about how you feel that triggers the power.” Darcy rubs her hands over her face. “You can do it, try again.”

Darcy sighs and begins again. She desires the candle to light. She says the words over and over again when suddenly, the candlewick starts smoking. 

“Yes, Darcy! You’re doing it!” Carol shakes Darcy’s shoulders in excitement. A burst of power escapes Darcy’s fingertips, and some hanging herbs catch on fire. 

“Shit!” Darcy yells. 

  
“It’s fine. It happens. I’ll take care of it.” Carol quickly recites a spell, extinguishing the flames. 

Darcy sighs. “I suck at this.”

“Don’t be so hard on yourself. Let’s try again.”

Darcy starts up again, hoping that she’ll get the hang of it. 

——

Darcy didn’t get the hang of it, and after so many failed attempts, she was done trying. She made a frustrated sound before jumping out of her seat. 

“Darcy! Calm down. Here, we can try this other spell. It’s easy, I promise!” Carol pleads as Darcy storms from the room. 

“That’s what you said about every spell! It’s not easy, and I’m not getting the hang of it!” Darcy shouts back. 

“It’s been intense, and we’re feeling the pressure. Let’s try again.”

Darcy rounds on Carol. “We’ve been trying, but your magic and my magic are not the same. You don’t know how to help me. I need someone who knows what I’m going through!”

Carol’s eyes get big, the hurt evident on her face. “Maybe we should take a break.” Carol begins walking out of the room. 

“Wait, Carol! I’m sorry!” Darcy shouts as she follows her aunt. 

“It’s fine, Darcy.” Carol doesn’t even bother looking at her as she makes her way up the stairs. The frustration of the whole situation got the best of Darcy, and she groans angrily. One moment she was in the living room, and the next, she was in the barn, very confused. Darcy looks around, mind racing. 

“What the fuck?” She says out loud. 

A moment later, James was standing in front of her. Concern etched on his face. 

“Are you okay?” He asks. “Do you know what happened?”

“I was in the house, and then I wished I could get some fresh air and bam! I was suddenly out here.”

James closed the distance between them, grabbing her hands. “Did you timewalk?” 

Darcy smiles and then giggles. “What? Me? Timewalk? James, I can’t light a candle!”

James smiles back at her. “I’m serious, Darcy. You weren’t in the house or out here for a moment. I couldn’t hear you.”

“I don’t even know how I would timewalk!”

James looks deep into her eyes while his thumbs rub circles on her hands. “Well….your dad was a timewalker.” 

Darcy’s eyes widen. “What?!”

“Yeah, Maria confirmed it.”

Darcy looks away, thinking about different things from her childhood, but also that day at the Beinecke when she could’ve sworn she had seen her father. “It was him,” Darcy whispers. She looks back at James. “My father was at Beinecke the day I came across the book. Holy shit. I might be able to timewalk!” She pulls James into a hug, his chest shaking from chuckling. 

“You’re something else.” He says, fondly into the top of her head. Darcy smiles into his chest. She was happy to learn that she might have something in common with her dad. It made her feel closer to him. 

——

They’d waited until nightfall to start her self-defense training. They went to the middle of the forest on the property. James had her close her eyes, and then he disappeared into the darkness. Her job was to see if she could sense James around her. When Darcy opens her eyes, the forest was still. She slowly starts walking, trying to sense where James was, but she wasn’t getting anything; there’d be quick movements that she assumed were him. 

“Use your senses, Darcy. They’ll help you figure out where the danger is better.” James calls from a different area of the forest. She continues wandering through the woods, her senses not picking up anything. “There’s one instance where your powers work. Do you know what that is?” James shouts from a completely different area. 

Darcy frowns. “You tell me!” 

“When you needed to use them. Your powers seem to be connected to need.” There was movement behind Darcy, and she quickly turns. There was nothing there. Then a streak was running past her, causing her to trip and fall to the ground. 

“Fuck!” Darcy laughs at falling to the ground. James suddenly appears, crouching down in front of her, looking worried. 

“I’m so sorry. Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m okay.”

James’ nostrils flare. “You’re bleeding.”

Darcy looks at her hand, and sure enough, she cut it when she had fallen to the ground. “It’s fine. It’s only a flesh wound.” She tries to give him a reassuring smile. 

His face turns serious. “I won’t hurt you.”

Darcy laughs. “I’m not worried you’ll hurt me. Is the blood too much?” She raises her hand to show him the wound. 

James turns his head. “Please don’t.” He got up slowly, backing away from her. 

She starts slowly following him as he makes his retreat. “Wait, I have an idea. Remember that night at the water fountain? And you said…” She drops her voice low to try and sound like James. “ _ No sudden movements _ ?” He’s backed up against a tree, looking a bit wild. “You told me to walk away from you slowly.” He’s growling now as she approaches him. She’s not scared at all. She bolts away from him, running as fast as she can. Her heart is pounding, and the adrenaline has kicked in. The moment she realizes James will catch her, she’s suddenly leaving the ground and escaping him as she flies up into the trees. 

She laughs happily that she had done it. “Apparently, I just needed some danger!”

James is staring up at her with a big smile on his face. “You showed me!” She starts a descent down towards James. She wasn’t sure how to land, but she imagined James would just catch her. He saw that she was coming in kind of fast. “Darcy, be careful!” He caught her, but the force causes them to fall to the ground, Darcy on top of him. Darcy grabs his hands, pinning them above his head. 

  
“Gotcha.” She says, smiling before moving her mouth to cover his. He enthusiastically reciprocates the kiss, freeing himself from her hold quickly, one of his hands landing on her neck to pull her closer to him and the other grabbing her ass. Darcy moans into the kiss as they explore each other's mouths. James got them off the ground and on their way to the house quickly and without breaking the kiss. 

——

They make out all the way back to the front door, James easily maneuvering them quickly. Once they make it into the house, Darcy shoves James up against the door and attacks his mouth some more. She wants him badly. They start heading to the bedroom, clothes being discarded as they walk, until James picks her up, her legs wrapping around his middle and her hands moving into his hair. 

He carries her up to the bedroom, making sure the door is shut after they enter. Darcy is in only a bra and pants, James only has his pants on. He lays her down on the bed, devouring her lips. She can feel the want in him. 

He intertwines their hands together above their heads and begins kissing down her neck, to her chest, nipping at her breasts. Darcy moans at the contact, slapping her free hand over her mouth to muffle the sound. 

He moves down her body, removing her pants and underwear as he goes, his eyes never leaving hers. His pupils are dark with lust, and Darcy gets even wetter at the look of him between her legs. 

He moves back up her body, giving her a smoldering kiss, before he begins the descent, down her body again, kissing as he goes down until he reaches the apex of her thighs. 

He watches her as he brushes his lips against each of her inner thighs before he brings his mouth to where she wants it most. Darcy sucks in a breath at the contact, her back arching and his lips and tongue expertly going to work. 

She watches James’ eyes close as he worships her sensitive skin. Before she knows it, she's seeing stars and she’s falling over the edge, her body igniting in pleasure, and she can’t help it when James’ name falls from her lips. James continues even through her orgasm, and it’s almost too much. This man is not only talented with his fingers, but he also seems to know exactly how to use his mouth, and Darcy is very pleased. He slows down and then withdraws, climbing back up her body. 

“Wow.” Darcy breathes. 

“Yeah?” He gives her a smile before leaning in to kiss her. She kisses back with enthusiasm. 

After a while, they end up in the bed under the covers, cuddled up against each other. Darcy runs her hands over James’ chest. He looks pensive.

Darcy frowns, “What are you thinking about?” She asks softly. 

“I should probably tell you about my past.” He looks at her. 

“You don’t have to if you don’t want to.”

“I want to.”

“Okay.” Darcy rubbed his cheek reassuringly. 

“There were two human women in my past. But it wasn’t like what we have.” He was rubbing circles on her shoulder. “I loved them. And…” He looks very sad. “I promised they would be safe with me. I thought they would be.” His voice cracks. “If I ever did anything to hurt you… I… I….”

“Shhh.” Darcy rubs his cheek. “It’s okay, James. I know you won’t hurt me. And I have power, a power that humans don’t have. I’m not fragile. And I’m not worried you’d do anything to me. I love you.” Darcy leans up, kissing him. He was still tense. She could sense that he was still worried. She cuddles up next to him, holding him close. She had absolute faith in him. 

——

The next day, Natasha and Peter arrive. 

The awkward silence in the living room is giving Darcy hives. James is sitting next to her on the love seat, and Maria and Carol are sitting across from them on the couch. Monica has been banished to her room while James’ friends, Natasha and Peter, hover in the background like they don’t know what to do. 

“Peter, Natasha, please sit down. The two of you are making me nervous,” Darcy pleads, wiping her sweaty hands on her jeans. 

Natasha hisses softly and moves into the corner of the room to be more shadowed. On the other hand, Peter smiled happily as he squished next to Darcy on the love seat. He’d been waiting for permission. 

“The more I look at you three, the more I can’t understand how anyone could think you all were human,” Carol remarks with a raised eyebrow. 

“Carol!”

“Does anyone want anything? Do vampires eat ginger snaps” Maria suddenly asks, standing from the couch. 

“For god sakes, Maria, don’t pretend this is a social call! Just sit back down!” 

Darcy groans, dropping her head into her hands. This is going about as good as she thought it would. Which is to say, it was going down the drain fast. She feels a cool hand on her back, rubbing over the star-shaped scar that covers most of her back. Darcy lifts her head back up and burrows into James’ side, his hand sliding around her waist. 

“It’s not like the two of you are any less conspicuous,” Natasha hisses from her shadowy spot in the corner. 

Carol sends a vicious glare towards the red-haired vampire. Natasha sends back a bored look of her own, which Darcy finds far more unnerving. 

“So, anyway! I’m delighted to be here! Thank you for letting me into your lovely home,” Peter says with a large smile. 

The awkward silence descends again, and Carol loudly sips the tea out of her cup, glare directed at James over the rim. 

“I just don’t see how vampires protecting our land will work. The Congregation will figure it out, and then they’ll come! This is the worst idea, and I hate that I went along with it “, Carol snarls, setting her teacup down with a little extra force. The house walls begin to shudder, the glass in the windows shaking in the window panes. Peter looks around in bewilderment while Natasha darts away from her corner, standing behind James while she stares at the quivering wall clock. The redhead leans down to whisper something in James’ ear. Darcy has to strain to hear it, but it doesn’t sound like it’s in English. 

_ Russian maybe? _

“It’s a magic house, Nat,” James replies in English, shifting on the couch to get more comfortable. His grip on Darcy tightens slightly, which is very caveman. She didn’t need protection from the house. 

“Aunt Carol, can you at least atte-“ Darcy starts to say when a manila folder suddenly is dropped into her lap. 

Everything goes quiet. 

“....It smells strange”, Peter says, leaning over slightly to get a better look. 

**_Thought you’d need this, jellybean! - Love, Dad_ **

Darcy’s hands are shaking as she traces the inked note on the flap of the folder, blinking back the tears pooling in her eyes. 

“Are you alright, little wolf?”, James whispers into her ear. He presses his lips to her hair, and she sniffles. 

“Yeah, I’m good. Just wondering how long Dad hid this in the house. Or how he was able to do it.” 

_ And I’m reminded of how much I still miss him and mom.  _

Darcy slowly opens the folder, carefully sliding out the cardboard sheath. Reaching inside, she slips out the page, gasping when she is confronted with an illustration. A very old illustration. 

“The alchemical wedding,” Darcy says breathlessly. 

“Hey, the woman has a star similar to Bucky’s insignia on her dress,” Peter sounds awestruck, his trembling finger touching the corner of the page. 

_ This can’t be. How would dad have gotten a page from the  _ Ordinal _?  _

“Is that what I think it is?” James asks, voice hoarse. 

“....Yeah...A page from the  _ Ordinal _ ….”

Maria and Carol have gathered around now, Natasha squeezing her lithe form between the two of them for a better view. 

“I can sense the magic on it is damaged. No wonder the book reacted the way it did when you opened it,” Maria intones, touching the illumination herself. 

It goes quiet in the living room again, but it’s more awed than awkward now. Darcy looks back down at the manila folder, reading her dad’s words over and over again. 

_ What is the house telling me? _

“Well, I would like to run tests on it,” Natasha says clinically, reaching out to grab the page. 

“Wait! I have a stillroom that will be much safer for the parchment than whatever you’re thinking of doing to it,” Carol says haughtily, turning away and heading further into the house. 

Darcy slowly slips the illumination back in the cardboard sheath and hands it to Natasha, nodding at the redhead. Natasha inclines her head slightly in reply before taking the sheath and following Carol towards the stillroom. 

“I think I need a nap,” Darcy sighs, laying her head back on the sofa and closing her eyes. It’s not long before she’s slipped into a deep sleep. 

——

When Darcy wakes, she’s cuddled against James and still on the sofa. His body is cool and sturdy, a reassuring presence when her mind starts working again. She opens her eyes and looks over the room. It’s just the two of them, and she breathes a sigh of relief and moves her head to look up at James. He smiles when their eyes meet. 

“Hey, sleepyhead. Did you sleep okay?”

Darcy yawns. “Yeah, it was a lot to deal with. How long was I out for?”

“Forty-eight minutes and some seconds.” James strokes her arm, it’s comforting, and Darcy feels herself relax. 

“Not too long then.” She sits up on the couch and spots the manila folder lying on the coffee table. She leans forward, picking it up, and then curls back up against James. She stares at her father’s handwriting for a moment. She had seen this handwriting before, and Darcy gasps, sitting up suddenly. 

“What’s wrong?” James asked, sounding worried. 

“My dad’s handwriting!” She looks over at James, “It was in the  _ Ordinal _ . I thought the writing looked out of place, and the wording seemed more modern than the other inscription in the book. My dad had the  _ Ordinal _ ! …..But why did he write in it?” 

“Well, you said you saw him outside Beinecke the day you came across the book. It’s possible he meant for you to see his writing.” James reaches out and grasps her hand. “Darcy, is it possible that the only reason you can get the manuscript and no other creature can is because of your father?”

Darcy’s speechless for a second as she thinks over what she knows about her father’s powers. “I mean, it’s possible. He was a timewalker. This could’ve been something he had planned all along.”

“It’s safe to assume he wants you to have the manuscript. All of the manuscript.”

Darcy smiles. That was something she knew for sure. Her parents were looking out for her, even if they weren’t there. 

———

Darcy has never used her powers like this before. She didn’t even know using them to sense different presences was possible. Walking carefully with her arms outstretched and eyes closed, she can hear the slight whistle in the wind of James darting between the trees behind her. 

“You know, this would be a lot easier if you just came out here and kissed me,” she says, turning slightly when an icy sensation brushed her fingers. 

“Nope, let your powers sense me, then  _ maybe _ we can kiss.” 

Darcy snorts, waving her hands slightly in front of her, eyes still closed. 

“You know? I do think I can sense a vampiric presence.” 

She trips slightly over the lip of something, and she swears under her breath. Probably the entrance to the old barn on the Danver’s property. It never failed to make a fool of her even when her eyes weren’t closed. The cooling sensation brushing her face and making her magic tingle grows under her skin, and Darcy smiles. She grips the body in front of her, tongue peeking out between her lips. 

“Gotcha,” she proclaims as she slips her hand up the vampire’s neck. 

_ Wait. The hair is too long….The features are also...too feminine….. _

Darcy flings her eyes open. The vampire she’s sensed hadn’t been James. The blonde vampire in her grip was unfamiliar to her, but she didn’t need her magic to sense the malevolence rolling off of the other woman in waves. 

“I’m going to assume you’re, Darcy,” the blonde vampire says, her voice as beautiful as the tingle of a bell. “We haven’t met yet. I’m Lorraine.” 

The blonde moves too fast, and Darcy can’t react until clawed fingers are wrapped around her neck. Darcy feels any courage she could’ve mustered drain from her limbs as her eyes widen. 

_ This wasn’t going to end well.  _


	8. A Price to Pay

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is it! Thank you for reading!
> 
> Lorraine was in the first Captain America movie, played by Natalie Dormer.
> 
> TW: Minor character death, vampire drinking blood

The vampire had her hand firmly wrapped around Darcy’s neck. Darcy’s eyes were bulging, and she was having a hard time taking in any air, the vampire’s nails digging deeper into her flesh. 

“Lorraine.” James’s voice was dripping with venom. 

Lorraine looked to James, a smirk forming on her face. “Bucky, it’s good to see you.”

Darcy could hear James growling from where he was standing. Lorraine pulled Darcy closer to her putting her nose in the crook of Darcy’s neck and taking a deep breath. 

“Did you bring Rumlow with you?” James growls. 

“No, Bucky, I’ve left him…….How could you abandon me?!” Pain was etched on Lorraine’s face, her eyes wild. “And now, you’re mating with a witch?” Lorraine’s eyes fell to Darcy’s. “What’s so special about her? Does she tick all your boxes?” 

“Leave her out of this!” 

“No. I want to see what’s so great about her.” Lorraine began bending her head down. Darcy closes her eyes, expecting to feel teeth on her neck. What she hadn’t anticipated were cool lips landing on her own and then tongue. Darcy’s eyes flew open at the intrusion, not enjoying the feeling. The vampire made an annoyed sound, pulling back with a growl. She turns Darcy, so they’re both facing James. Lorraine’s fingers are still firm against her throat. Darcy swallows thickly when she feels the female vampire’s nails lengthen another inch. 

“Hmmm….I hoped that would tell me something. Kiss her, Bucky. Show me how much you love her.” James looked anguished but didn’t make a move. “Come over here and kiss her, or I’ll rip her throat out.” At the threat, Lorraine positions her fingernails directly over Darcy’s jugular. One wrong move and she would be toast. Darcy’s heart was hammering at this weird vampire standoff. James began slowly approaching her, the two of them locking eyes.

“Darcy, you’re going to be okay.” He brought a hand up and gently cradles her face with his palm. “Everything will be okay.” He brought his face down to hers, their lips meeting. Darcy closes her eyes at the familiar feel of him against her, dread in the back of her mind that this could be their last kiss. This other vampire was out for blood. Darcy tries to put as much love as she could into the kiss, while James tries to reassure her that everything would be okay. Darcy hears Lorraine gasp, and then she is forcefully pulled away from James. 

“So, you like how she feels, how she responds?” Lorraine spat out. “Rumlow made me the perfect mate for you, you know? He chose specifically for you, and now I’m nothing! All because of this whoring witch!”

“..... I’m sorry. No one deserves to be mistreated by that man.” James’ voice was low. 

Lorraine screams, throwing Darcy away from her. There are sounds of slashing and then James grunting in pain. Darcy stumbles, falling into a tree near the barn entrance. Her hands began glowing, causing little flowers to sprout from the tree bark. 

_ Okay, now what kind of power is THIS?! _

But she has no time to dwell on that any further. Darcy spun around, grabbing Lorraine and pushing her out of the way of James. He had fallen against another tree trunk, a hand on his neck. His eyes are wide, a horrible gurgling sound coming from his mouth. Darcy noticed a hole in his shirt and blood… there was a lot of blood. Anger swept over her. The sight of James in pain was overwhelming her emotions. She had to protect him with everything she had. 

“You can’t save him with your magic!” Lorraine calls. 

_ No, he’s not gonna die that easily!  _

Wind began picking up around Darcy as she turned and rose from the ground. She felt fire in her veins and didn’t have to look down to know her hands were suddenly engulfed in flames. Lorraine actually looks frightened now. Darcy brought her hands up like she was drawing a bow and arrow, and at the thought, they appeared in her hands, both made of fire. Lorraine stumbles over the same lip of the barn Darcy had, but her vampiric balance helps her stay on both feet. Without a second of hesitation, Darcy let loose the arrow. It lands squarely in the middle of the vampire’s chest, and the woman was on the ground on the other side of the barn, taking part of the old wooden wall with her. Darcy knew Lorraine wouldn’t be getting up from the impact. She ran back to James, dropping to her knees at his side. His hand was still against his neck, and he’s gurgling like he’s choking. Darcy looked over the wound on his chest and saw it was deeper than she’d thought. 

James gasps out a breath, his eyes searching hers, “I... love... you...”

Darcy grabs his hand. “You’re not dying today.” She was sure that he would not die, even if his wounds said otherwise. “You can’t leave me yet, you bastard.” 

James is able to snort in mild humor despite the blood filling his lungs. Pressing a kiss to his forehead, Darcy knows what she has to do. Whatever was asked of her in return would be worth it if James could walk away from this. 

Rising slowly to her feet, Darcy turns away from James, easing her bloodied hands toward the sky. 

“....Maiden, mother, crone, I call you. Goddess, help me!” Darcy cried up to the sky. A bright light suddenly enveloped her body, the warmth of the light chasing away the October chill. “Save him, and you can have anything from me!” 

“It will cost you.” The air rang with the voices of three women, the discordance of their tones managing to meld into something musical. 

“You can have whatever you want as long as you save him! I’ll do anything! I will give whatever you want!” Darcy pleads. 

“Give him life.” A knife materialized in Darcy’s hand. She rushes over to James, falling to her knees beside him again. Darcy swallows thickly before she slides the blade across her right inner arm. Blood immediately starts seeping from the wound. Darcy heard someone behind her yell something, and then Peter was at James’ other side.

“Let me help him!” Peter says. 

“No! Go away, I can save him!” A force pushes Peter away, and then an otherworldly shield envelopes herself and James. She moves her arm up to James’ mouth. “Please drink.” He took only a mouthful before falling back to the ground, coughing around the blood he can’t swallow. Darcy moves closer to him, “This isn’t working....” 

Tears burn in her eyes. This couldn’t be the end, so she calls to the Goddess one last time. 

“You can have whatever you want…”, she whispers brokenly, resting her forehead on James’ chest. 

“So be it.” The women remark before the sound of a tingling bell echoes through the icy woods. 

James’s mouth immediately latches onto Darcy’s neck. She gasps at the sudden pain, and then his hands were pulling her closer to him. She felt the power in her giving him life and his intense desire for her blood. She was happy to provide him with the blood he craved and that it was bringing him back from the brink of death.

She can tell the more James drinks, the life in her is slowly slipping away. It honestly didn’t matter. She would happily give up her life to save James. She smiles slowly as everything goes dark. 

———

When Darcy wakes, she’s lying in a bed and can feel tubes attached to her left arm and her hand being held in a tight grip. She’s achy but doesn’t feel any severe pain. She slowly opens her eyes and immediately sees James sitting next to her holding her hand with a worried expression on his face. Darcy notices Natasha leaving the room behind James to give them privacy. 

“Hey, you....” Darcy whispers out. Her throat feels so dry. 

James’ eyes meet hers and immediately go soft when he realizes she’s awake. He lets out a breath and kisses her hand. “Hi.” He offers a shaky smile. Darcy smiles back, trying to show him that she’s okay. Seeing him alive and okay is all that matters to her. She can handle being achy and feeling a bit off from what she did to save him. Darcy suddenly remembers feeling his desire for her blood and how intense it was.

“Guess we both made it through, huh? The other side wouldn’t be this painful. At least I hope not.” 

James snorts again, sounding much better now that he’s not choking on his own blood as well as Darcy’s. 

“I know you’ll survive for sure now. Nobody on the brink of death could joke like that”, James touches the tip of his nose to hers, and they both laugh softly. 

“So, you’ve, uh, always wanted to taste my blood? You sure do have a lot of strength to have resisted for so long.”

“You know I would never take your blood unwillingly.” James’ eyes were serious.

“I know.” Darcy moves her free hand to cradle his face. He leans into the touch. “I need to know the story of… her.” She didn’t want to say the dead vampire’s name. “.....Were you in love with her?”

James frowns. “She was sired by Rumlow to infiltrate my family and learn our secrets. He made her into what, he thought, I’d want. I guess I thought I loved her at one time. Then I found out her true purpose.” 

“And I killed her.” Darcy couldn’t help but feel a bit upset about it. She had never taken another person’s life. Darcy knew this would follow her for the rest of her days. She just had to keep telling herself it was something she had to do. She had no choice. 

James grabs her hand and kisses it gently. “You saved my life.”

“And I would do it again.” Darcy knew that for a fact. 

It’s quiet for a while before James speaks. The words are spoken so softly. Darcy has to almost strain to hear them.

“We’re not safe here. Lorraine was able to find us, which means nothing is stopping Pierce or the Congregation from coming after us. I don’t like us being sitting ducks.”

Darcy sighs, exhaustion settling like lead in her bones once again. She lets her eyes fall closed, quickly opening them again when an image of Lorraine’s mangled, burned body flashes behind her lids. James uses his other hand to brush her curls from her forehead. Darcy is glad it doesn’t hurt to lean into the touch. 

“What are you thinking about, Dracula?” She teases, meeting his eyes. 

“I was just.... I’m wondering, what if we could hide in another time? Timewalk somewhere away from everything that’s going on here?” 

Darcy couldn’t hide the shock that fell over her face. Her? Timewalk the both of them somewhere? Then she really thought about it. James was right, and they weren’t safe anywhere currently, and it didn’t seem like any of the witches she knew could help with her powers. Plus, her father was able to timewalk. Maybe this was how she’d save them. Darcy nodded. “Yes. If it can help us, I feel like we should try.”

James gives her a toothy smile, leaning over to press their foreheads together for a moment. He made sure not to put any pressure anywhere on her body as his lips touch hers. Darcy sighs into the kiss. They were going to try and do this. 

And they needed to succeed.

———

After much-needed rest and fluids, Darcy felt almost normal and able to leave her bed and dress. As she descended the stairs, the house started shaking in the sitting room like it was trying to get their attention. She watched as James went into the room, and she followed him in, seeing him crouched down by the fireplace holding an item in his hand. Noticing her approach, he turned to her, showing her what the house had given them. It was human-shaped and looked to be many centuries old. 

“What is this?” James asks, meeting her eyes. 

“A poppet. A very, very old poppet.” Darcy gently grabs the poppet, examining the stitching, “These are used by witches to cast spells. Back during the Salem witch trials, they were used to convict suspected witches of witchcraft.”

“Why did the house want us to have it?” James questions, his face was looking thoughtful. 

“I’m not sure, wait...” Darcy felt something come out of the poppet. It was a teardrop-shaped pearl earring. “What is this doing in here?” She looks at James, holding the earring out to him. He sucks in a breath at the sight and carefully takes the earring from Darcy. 

“This belonged to my mother. My stepfather gifted her these earrings a very long time ago, and this one has been missing for centuries.” James stares at the earring in wonder. “How did it end up here?” He looks to the fireplace then back at Darcy. “What does the house want us to know?”

“I’m not sure,” Darcy says. She had a lot of questions and hardly any answers. Like how in the world an earring belonging to Aoife ended up in the Lewis-Danvers house and had been there for centuries. 

———

Everyone got together around the table except Monica, who was told to hang out in her room while the adults talked. Maria and Carol were to one side of the table, Darcy, and James, on the other, and Natasha and Peter stayed standing. They were all quiet for a second after hearing Darcy and James’ plan to timewalk. Peter was the first to speak up.

“I mean, it’s an excellent idea, but what if you end up in the middle of a war or even an epidemic? History is littered with those.”

James sighs, running a hand through his hair. “Yes, which is why we would have to choose our destination very carefully. Darcy isn’t safe here. She’s not safe anywhere in this time. We have to protect her.” James says.

“Darcy, jellybean. How do you feel about this?” Maria says, her gaze solely on Darcy.

“We’re out of options. James is right; I’m not safe here. I need to find a teacher, someone who understands my powers, and I think the only way to accomplish that is going into the past.” Darcy looks at her aunt and Maria. 

“Maria, you seem to know a lot about how Darcy’s dad was able to timewalk. What will we need?” James says.

“You’re going to need three objects from a particular time and place. That’s what her dad told me,” Maria says, nodding her head. 

“Okay. I can make that work. I have some things being brought here from my past lives. There’s just one thing that I’m worried about, and that’s how we return here?”

Everyone looks at Maria expectantly. Maria takes a deep breath. “Short distances are easy, but the further back, the harder it becomes. You’re going to need a powerful spell.”

“Which will require real training.” Carol pipes up, getting up from the table. “We might as well get started if you’re going to do this.”

Darcy gives her a small smile before looking at James. They share a look, understanding that this was what they had to do to survive. 

“Where do we begin?” Darcy says.

“Out to the field. We’re going to start small.” Carol said. 

Darcy gets up out of her chair and follows Carol and Maria a ways away from the house. Darcy was nervous but determined. They went into the trees a bit and stopped in a clearing with Carol and Maria standing to either side of Darcy. 

“Okay. What do I do? How does this work?” 

“Close your eyes, take deep breaths, and think of the still room. You need to feel how you want to be there more than here.” Carol said.

Darcy follows the directions, closing her eyes and taking deep breaths. She pictures the still room. “What will happen to you?” She says.

“Well, it depends on when you show up. We’ll either be there or out here.”

“Okay,” Darcy says. 

“It’s time to make that big step, jellybean.” 

Darcy picked up her foot and kept the picture of the still room in her mind. She takes the step and opens her eyes. She was still in the forest. 

“Wait, what did I do wrong?” 

“You’re too focused on the details and not the why you want to be in the room. Think about James. Magic is in the heart, not the mind.” Maria says.

Darcy smiles. That’d be easy to do. “Okay.” 

Darcy closes her eyes and focuses on her need to be near James again. How he smells, how his strong arms feel wrapped around her, Darcy lifts her foot and sets it down and abruptly finds herself falling into the still room table. James rushes to her to help her get oriented.

“Yes!” Darcy exclaims.

James chuckles, pulling her into his arms. “I knew you could do it.”

Darcy notices Natasha sitting at the table with a stunned look on her face. 

———

The next day, Darcy was relaxing at the kitchen table after a training session. Peter had taken up space at the table with her, typing away on his laptop when the house seemed to groan and shake for a couple of minutes before going completely still again. 

“What was that?” Peter asks, his eyes wide.

Before Darcy can answer, Monica is yelling from upstairs. “Mom! The house added four rooms!”

“What does she mean the house added four rooms?” Peter asks.

“Magic house. If the house knows guests are coming, it accommodates them. Sometimes it’s the only way we know people are coming.” Darcy says, shrugging. 

Maria steps out of the kitchen with a confused look on her face. “Are we expecting company?”

James seems to materialize out of nowhere, causing Maria to gasp at his sudden appearance. She should be used to the vampires just appearing. 

“Sorry to frighten you, Maria,” he says, looking at her. “I have a friend bringing some supplies that Darcy and I will need to timewalk.”

“And Jane is coming for Samhain.” Darcy pipes up from her seat at the table. She was really excited to see her friend. It had been too long.

“Well, that accounts for two of the rooms… Why are there two extra?”

“I’m not sure,” Darcy says. “I’m not expecting anyone else.”

“I guess we’ll find out.” Maria heads back into the kitchen. 

An hour later, the sound of tires on gravel outside gets everyone’s attention. James looks outside, a smile coming to his face. 

“It’s my pal, Steve, and it looks like he’s not alone.”

Darcy and Peter follow James outside as a built guy gets out of the black SUV. More people pile out of the SUV, a woman with dark hair who looked to be in her twenties and a couple of teenagers. A boy and a girl, they were looking around in wonder. 

“Hey, Buck!” The man, Steve, Darcy assumed, says as he approaches James, pulling him into a hug. 

“How ya doin’ Stevie?” James says as they pull apart. 

“I’m good. Very good.” Steve says as his eyes land on Darcy, and she feels the familiar icy feeling of a vampire. “You must be Darcy,” Steve says as he puts out a hand for her to shake. “Buck has talked about you nonstop.”

Darcy blushes. “Hopefully, all good things?”

Steve chuckles. “Yes, all good things.” He puts out a hand to the other woman, looking at her fondly as she accepts his hand with a smile on her face, “This is my wife, Peggy.”

When Peggy looks at Darcy, she feels the icy tingle again. James’ best friend and his wife were vampires. Darcy gives her a little wave. “Hi, it’s nice to meet you!”

“Likewise,” Peggy says in a posh English accent. 

“It’s good to see you, Peggy. Are you keeping this punk in line?” James says as he tilts his head towards Steve, a grin on his face. 

“Somebody has to,” Peggy says, her eyes sparkling as she gives Steve a look. 

James looks to Steve, “Were you able to get what we needed?”

Steve nods. “Yes. And more.” He says, looking to the teens.

James frowns. “Who are they?”

“How about we go inside?” Steve says.

“Yeah, okay,” Darcy replies, looking to James. 

Everyone heads inside; Darcy is leading them to the dining room. Everyone takes a seat, Carol and Maria showing up to bring in more chairs to accommodate all the people, along with Natasha. As they all start getting comfortable, there’s the sound of another car pulling into the driveway. 

Darcy gets up to look out the window, thinking it’s Jane finally making her appearance, but the car is way too expensive to be something Jane would drive. 

Jane was more of a small SUV kind of witch. The vehicle that was pulling into the driveway was a high-end sports car. Darcy frowns. 

“Uh, I don’t know who this is?” She says to everyone in the room. In moments, James is by her side, gazing out the window. He sucks in a breath when he gets a good look.

“What in the world?” He murmurs before heading to the door in a hurry. Darcy follows in his path heading outside. 

The new person gets out of the vehicle, and Darcy is confused for a moment. “Rebecca?” She says. 

“What are you doing here? Is Ma, okay?” Darcy hears James say. 

“Calm down, Bucky. Ma is perfectly fine.” Rebecca looks to Darcy, “Hey, Darcy!” Rebecca quickly approaches Darcy and pulls her into a hug. Rebecca lets her go and turns to James. “Mother told me about your plan.” Quicker than Darcy’s eyes can make out, Rebecca punches James in the arm. 

“Ow!” James says, frowning as he rubs where she hit him.

“That’s what you get for thinking you can,” she drops her voice to a whisper, “go back in time,” her voice rises again, “without me!”

“It’s not safe for Darcy here! We don’t have any choice!”

“I know that! But I will go with you. Darcy will need all the help she can get blending in as a woman in the 16th century, and who better to help her than someone who lived through it.”

James gives Darcy a look. Darcy thinks it over for a second. It would be nice to have another to help her out instead of trying to find someone in that time who was discreet. Rebecca could help protect her, and they didn’t know what they were walking into. Darcy nods. 

“Yeah. She can come with us. We’ll need the help.”

James sighs. “Okay.” He rubs a hand through his hair, “If this is what Darcy wants. But,” he pointed to Rebecca, “You stay on your best behavior, and we’re trying to keep a low profile.”

Rebecca snorts. “Bucky, do you even remember what you were like during that time? How can you keep a low profile?”

James frowns again. “We’ll figure it out.”

“And I’ll be there to assist.” She looks to her brother with warmth in her eyes and then turns to Darcy. “Now, Darcy,” She loops her arm with Darcy’s, “I smell an assortment of creatures.” She gave an exaggerated sniff of the air. “Witches, daemon, Steve, Peggy, Peter, and Natasha. I would  _ love _ some introductions.”

Darcy can’t help but smile. “Okay, come on in.”

They all walked into the dining room; everyone seemed to be sitting in silence as they arrived. Upon Rebecca’s arrival, Steve and Peggy immediately got up.

“Becca, this is a surprise,” Steve says, pulling Rebecca into a quick hug. 

“Yes. It’s good to see you again, Steven.” He releases her, and Peggy approaches, hugging Rebecca also.

“Hello, Rebecca.”

“Good to see you as always, Peggy.” They pulled apart, and then everyone took up seats around the table. 

“I think introductions are in order,” Darcy says as she looks to everyone. Darcy introduced herself, her aunts, and Monica. James introduced himself, Rebecca, Peter, and Natasha. And then Steve introduced himself and Peggy, then turned to the teens. 

“This is Wanda and Pietro.” He pauses, “A witch,” he points to Wanda, “and daemon,” He says, pointing to Pietro. “They’re twins.”

Everyone seems to gasp all at once. Darcy’s eyes going wide at the revelation. 

“That can’t be!” Carol calls from her position at the table. “That’s not possible.”

“Our parents were daemons,” Wanda says. She has a thick accent. “It was a shock to them as well.” She says with a small smile. 

“Cross-species?” Natasha says, her eyebrows almost to her hairline. 

Darcy might not have embraced her witchiness in the past, but even she knew that was something that couldn’t be possible. A daemon couldn’t give birth to a witch. Darcy’s mind was reeling with this. What did it mean that two daemons created a witch?

James turns to Steve, “Why are they here?”

Steve runs a hand through his hair. “They’re here for Darcy.”

Darcy looks to them, giving them a reassuring smile. “It sounds like you came a long way to find me. Here I am.” 

Wanda and Pietro look to one another, sharing a look before Wanda gives Pietro a small nod and then turns her attention to Darcy. “We’ve been trying to find you for a while. It wasn’t until Clint talked to Steve that we found a way to find you.”

Darcy’s brows furrowed. “Who’s Clint?”

“Clint Barton. He’s a daemon on the Congregation.” Steve supplies.

“On the congregation? How do we know he’s trustworthy?” James says. 

“Because he’s our adoptive father,” Pietro speaks up. 

“And he’s kept them a secret from the rest of the Congregation,” Steve adds.

Wanda pulls something from her bag and puts it on the table towards Darcy. It’s an ornate figurine of a woman. Darcy frowns as she carefully picks it up. “This has been passed down through our family for generations. Our father, before he died, told us that when the time comes that we are to give it to the one who needs it.” Wanda says. 

“It’s beautiful. But what is it?” Darcy says.

“It’s a chess piece,” James says, sounding awed at the sight of the figure.

“The white queen,” Maria pipes up from where she’s sitting. 

“I lost that on All Souls Night a long time ago.” James’ eyes are wide at seeing something from his past. 

Wanda’s eyebrows scrunched. “But how would my family have gotten it?”

“I don’t know,” James says before meeting Darcy’s eyes. Darcy sets the piece down on the table gently, wondering to herself how something belonging to James so long ago had just fallen into their laps. She had a lot of questions and hardly any answers. 

Maria gets up from her seat, seeming to sense that James wants to be alone with Darcy. 

“How about I show everyone where they’ll be staying?” There are murmurs of agreement from everyone. Peter and Natasha seem to disappear, and Carol gets Monica to follow her into the living room with a “Come on squirt, your mother’s in hostess mode, and we should probably help everyone with their bags.” 

Once they’re alone, Darcy sucks in a deep breath and then turns to James, who’s sitting next to her. “This was a lot.”

James sighs and runs a hand through his hair. “Yeah, it was, but there’s something I gotta tell you.”

Darcy frowns. “Okay? I doubt things could get weirder.”

James lets out a humorless chuckle, then reaches into his pocket, pulling out his mother’s old earring. “Things are about to get weirder.” Darcy’s eyes widen. “That chess piece,” he says, nodding at the figurine on the table, “was in the same place as this earring, on the same night.”

“What?” Darcy says softly.

“Yeah. On All Souls night.”

Darcy takes a second to think over what James is telling her before looking at him. “Witches believe there’s not much keeping the living from the dead on Halloween and All Souls. Is this a sign that we should do the timewalk on Halloween?”

“It’s in six days. Would you be ready?”

Darcy smiles, but the smile doesn’t reach her eyes. “Do we have a choice?” 

James reaches out and puts a comforting hand on her arm. “I believe in you.”

Darcy melts at his love for her and leans over, resting her head on his shoulder. “Then, we’ll do it on Halloween.”

———

It’s a few hours later, when the sun is starting to set that another car arrives in the driveway. There was only one person who hadn’t arrived yet. 

“Jane!” Darcy squealed as she jumped up from her seat on the couch. Darcy runs out the front door, James following on her heels. Jane’s vehicle of choice is an SUV that is small but can also haul her science equipment. Jane carefully sets down the bag she’s holding as she stumbles out of the front seat and into Darcy’s arms. Her friend still smells like the frozen north; campfires, cheap toiletries, and the hint of fresh snow. 

“So, when were you going to tell me about him? Or, more appropriately, them?” 

Darcy freezes momentarily before pulling away from Jane’s embrace. Her friend has her gaze locked on James and the growing ring of vampires around him. Her friend doesn’t look disgusted but she doesn’t necessarily look too thrilled. 

“Well uh, you see...I would’ve! But you know the phone transmission was shit where you were. We only managed to connect every once in a while”, Darcy hopes her giggle sounds less guilty and more casual. 

Jane turns to squint at Darcy, which means she didn’t do well masking her current emotion. 

“You know what, you get the vamps to unload my SUV and you and I are going to have a girls night so we can talk about it. Just the two of us, like we did when we were in high school shotgunning beers and Jell-O shots in the barn out back.” 

Darcy catches James’ wide-eyed look and she snorts, letting Jane pull her back towards the house and up the stairs to the new room the house had shifted to accommodate for Jane’s arrival. 

———

Darcy spends the days leading up to Halloween practicing her timewalking. She starts by herself and moves to bringing James and then both James and Rebecca. 

By herself, timewalking was a breeze, but the moment she added not one but two others, it became more challenging. It felt like she was held down by a great weight, as she also tried to find the right path to take her back to where she wanted to go. The paths were glowing lights, all leading to different times. That was the thing about timewalking, following the right path, and not getting distracted by the other ways. But her determination and the support of her friends and family helped her quite a bit. Her main focus was moving the three of them through time, and they needed to try and go further back than a week. So, it’s decided the day before Halloween that the three of them will go back to her first night at Caisleán Geimhridh to the family dinner. 

Darcy bites her lip nervously after she’s dressed in the dress from that night. “Do you think I’m ready?” She asks. 

James is all dressed up and ready. He moves towards her, pulling her into his arms, “You’ve been doing great. If we’re able to do this, we’ll have a shot at going back centuries.”

Darcy lets out a sigh against his firm chest.

Rebecca comes barrelling into the room, dressed in her outfit from that night. “You’ll do amazing, Darcy. I have no doubt.”

Jane comes to check on the three of them. “Are you guys almost ready?”

Darcy smiles as James lets her go. “Yeah, but are you all sure that we won’t accidentally bump into our past selves?”

Jane seems to ponder it for a second, “I mean, you all haven’t run into yourselves during your other timewalks? I think with timewalking, it’s all timey whimey, and you’re essentially replacing your past self while you’re timewalking there.” 

It’s a lot for Darcy to take in. But she sees James nodding along to what Jane is saying. “Yes, it’s a good sign that we haven’t run into ourselves during our tests. I think we’ll be safe.”

Darcy lets out a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding in. “Okay, yeah. Then let’s do this.”

Rebecca beams at her, and then the three of them are arranging themselves in the middle of the room with Darcy in the center. She can do this. They believe in her, and she’s determined. Jane hands Darcy the three items they’ll need. Two books and a pen from James’ study. Darcy shoved the things underneath her arm, holding them to her body tightly as she grasps James and Rebecca’s hands next to her. 

“Okay, close your eyes,” Darcy says as she follows suit. “Whatever you do, don’t let go of my hands,” The other two murmur in agreement, “And when I tell you, lift your foot.” Darcy feels the books and pen close to her body and pictures James study, his desk, the fire going, all of the books, and Alpine lounging about. She smiles at the images. She takes in a deep breath and then says, “Now.” And lifts her foot. 

Right away, they’re sucked away, and Darcy looks for the path they need, following the shining light. She hangs on to James and Rebecca for dear life, and when she sees where they need to go, she takes them there, and before they know it, the three of them are stumbling on solid ground, and Darcy opens her eyes seeing the familiar sight of James’ study. They let go of each other’s hands, and Darcy can’t help the “Yes!” that escapes her lips. 

James chuckles as he pulls her into his arms, kissing the top of her head. “You did it!”

Rebecca hugs Darcy from behind, “I knew you could do it!”

They all separate, and Darcy takes a second to think for a moment and can’t help but frown, “How do we know it’s the right night?” she says, looking between James and Rebecca. 

“We’ll have to go downstairs and see,” James says. 

“Okay.”

“I’ll head down first, and then you follow,” James says, looking at Darcy. 

Darcy nods. 

“And I was fashionably late as always, so I’ll go in a little bit after you,” Rebecca says with a smile. 

James takes his leave, and Darcy waits a couple of minutes before heading down herself. Once she makes it into the dining room, it plays out like it did the first time. James pulls out her chair, and then Rebecca strolls in a couple of minutes later, taking her seat. They eat and talk, the conversations not exactly like the first time, and before she knows it, they’re all retiring to the sitting room. James starts the fire, then puts on some music and asks his mother to dance. 

Darcy can’t help but become entranced again, watching the two of them move together, a dopey smile on her face. She can tell that James is enjoying the time with his mother, moving her around easily, a soft smile on his face like he was trying to imprint every detail of the moment to memory. 

When James pulls Darcy to him for their dance, he pulls her close, places a kiss on the top of her head, and thanks her for the evening. When they’re done dancing, instead of going for a walk, they sneak back up to his study, Rebecca, following a few minutes later. 

The return trip was much easier. Darcy was aware of the path she needed and took them on it, not quite easily, but a lot better than before. They arrived back at the house, and Darcy could smell Maria was cooking. They must have made it right before dinner. 

Rebecca had gone off to her room to change, and that left Darcy and James alone in their room, to do the same. Darcy was happy, they had a plan, and she could take them back in time. She had a smile on her face, and so did James. Before they decided to go downstairs, she hugged him, and he wrapped his arms around her, resting his chin on the top of her head and just enjoyed themselves for a few moments in silence and then finally went downstairs. 

———

Everyone had squished together around the giant dining room table for dinner. They’d all seemed to be getting along quite well. Darcy, James, and Rebecca were seated near her aunts and Monica. Maria was asking about their trip to Caisleán Geimhridh. 

“You got to say goodbye to your mom?” Maria asks. 

“I did,” James says. 

“And I got us back just in time for dinner, so win-win,” Darcy says with a big smile on her face. 

“I’m so proud of you, jellybean,” Maria says. 

Darcy blushes at the praise, not sure what to say. 

“I am too,” Carol adds, a smile on her face, and then she’s rising from her seat, lifting her glass of wine. “I’d like to make a toast.” She calls to everyone at the table. “To unusual friendships!” Everyone echoes, “Unusual friendships!” as they raise their glasses.

Darcy was happy to see the twins smiling. Wanda and Monica seemed to get along swimmingly, being two younger witches. Darcy got the sense that this was the first time that Wanda had been around many witches, which would make sense seeing as her twin was a daemon and her adoptive family were also all daemons. She couldn’t help worrying about the twins though if the congregation found out about them, things would go badly. 

_ Stupid Congregation. _

After dinner, Darcy watches as James and Steve go to the sitting room to have a serious discussion that involved paperwork. She busies herself, talking to Jane. She’s thrilled to learn that Jane had taken Wanda under her wing and planned to mentor her. After a while, though, Darcy wants to get some air, so she puts on a coat and heads to the porch, enjoying the cool breeze. 

A few minutes later, the back door opens, and Steve appears. 

“I was looking for you.” He says, smiling. 

“Just getting some air. I want to enjoy my time while I’m here, you know?”

“Yes. I wanted to talk to you about some things.”

“Okay.” She moves to sit down on a bench and pats a spot next to her. Steve takes a seat and turns towards her. 

“Has Bucky told you where exactly you’ll be traveling to?”

Darcy shakes her head. “Not yet.” 

“You understand that by going back in time, you’re going to have to rely on him and Rebecca for pretty much everything?”

Darcy frowns. She had thought about that, and she doesn’t really like it, but what other choice does she have? At least she’ll have both James and Rebecca. “Yeah, that’s what I’ve figured.”

“I just want you to be prepared that Bucky won’t be the same man.”

Darcy sighs. That’s something she’s been afraid of. But she’ll just have to wait and see when the time comes. 

———

Halloween morning, and everybody in the house were preparing to leave. Steve, Peggy, and the twins were the first ones to go at about noon. 

Darcy approaches the twins, “I’m so happy to have met the two of you and beyond thankful that you brought me the chess piece.”

Wanda’s eyes are a bit misty, “You’re welcome. We’re glad we could honor our father’s wish. And it was nice to spend time with other witches.”

Darcy smiles, “If you end up at James’ Mom’s, my aunts and Monica will be there, and I’m sure Jane will probably end up there too.”

Wanda nods, “I have a feeling we’ll be going there sooner rather than later.” The twins had already said their goodbyes to the others. 

Darcy overheard James letting Steve and Peggy know that if the twins are ever in trouble, to take them to Caisleán Geimhridh. Their faces are grim, but they agree, telling James they’d pass on the information to Clint. 

Before they leave, Steve asks about the book of life.

James runs a hand through his hair. “They can’t do much with all the pages missing. But we hope that we’ll find it while we’re back in time.”

Steve clasps a hand on James’ shoulder, “Good luck Buck, and if you find it, bring it back with you.”

James smiles, “I’ll do my best, pal.” They quickly hug, and then Darcy and James are telling them goodbye.

When Jane’s getting ready to take off, Darcy can’t help but cry a little bit. She’ll miss her best friend. 

“Stay safe, okay?” Jane says as they hold each other close. 

“I’ll do my best, Janey. It helps that I have two vampires who have already lived through the time, going with me.”

They both wetly chuckle at that as they part. 

Jane straightens up and gives James a death stare. “You better not let anything bad happen to her, or I will make your life a living hell. You got it?” Jane says, pointing at him. 

James puts up his hands in surrender, “You have my word. I would never let anything happen to her. I will protect her with my life.”

Jane seems to accept his answer, and nods then gives Darcy one last hug before she gets in her car and leaves. 

James holds Darcy close as they watch Jane leave. 

When it’s Carol, Maria, and Monica’s turn to go, Darcy and James help them load up their car. When they’re putting in the last of the luggage, James pulls Carol aside. 

“Here’s a card with my mother’s contact information.”

Carol takes it and sighs, “You know, never in my wildest dreams had I thought that one day I’d be staying in the same house as Aoife Brant.”

Darcy sidles up to them, “It’s actually a castle.” She says with a grin. 

Carol huffs, “A castle. I hope they have food for warmbloods.”

“I ate very well, thank you very much. Moira makes amazing muffins.”

Maria and Monica have joined them. “Jellybean?” Maria says, looking a bit sad before she pulls Darcy into a bone-crushing hug. Darcy can barely breathe. “I love you, jellybean.”

“I love you too, Auntie Maria. Take care of aunt Carol, okay?” Tears are beginning to fall down Darcy’s face. 

Maria pulls back to look her in the eyes. She’s starting to cry. “I will. Be safe, please.”

“I will.” 

Maria then wonders over to James, hugging him. 

Monica rushes Darcy giving her a big hug. 

“Take care of your mom and Aunt Carol, okay?” Darcy says.

They pull apart, “I will.” Monica says, sniffling. “One more for the road?”

Darcy chuckles, “Sure thing, kid.” They hug once more, and then Monica is heading to the car to get into the backseat. Darcy approaches Carol. Carol has a serious look on her face. 

“Find a teacher and listen to them. Learn everything you need to know, okay?” Carol says, her voice thick with emotion. 

“I will.” Darcy nods. 

Carol gets closure, putting her hands up to cup Darcy’s cheeks. “You are an incredibly talented witch,” Carol says, her voice breaking, “You have more power than you know, and I’m happy that you’re not letting it go to waste.” She then pulls Darcy into a hug, and they both cry on each other for a couple of moments. Darcy would miss her headstrong aunt a lot. Carol’s words meant a lot to Darcy. 

“Thank you. I promise not to let you down.” 

“Be careful, jellybean,” Carol says as they part. 

“I will.”

And then Darcy goes to James awaiting arms as they watch her family leave, and she cries a bit more. 

Before Natasha and Peter leave, they take some samples from Darcy. A cheek swab and some more blood. 

“We will be continuing our research while you’re both gone,” Natasha says after she’s taken the swab. 

“Cool beans. Thank you both.” Darcy says, looking at the two vampires. 

“It’s no problem, Darcy,” Peter says, giving her a big grin. 

Natasha’s packing up when James enters the room. 

“Are you both not staying for Halloween?” James asks, his brows furrowed. 

“No. We will be leaving. As you’re aware, James, I don’t care for goodbyes.” Natasha says with a sad smile. She pats James’ arm and then heads for the door. “I’ll take Rebecca’s car, Peter.”

“Okay,” Peter says, keeping his eyes on James. Darcy feels like they want some alone time, so she heads to the living room to hang out with Rebecca. She plops down next to Rebecca on the couch and puts her head on the vampire’s shoulder, and then sighs. 

“Are you also nervous about going back in time?” Darcy asks. 

“I’m thinking of it as an adventure. I’ve lived through so many centuries; it will be fun having a bit of a do-over and seeing people who have been long gone.”

Darcy hums. That was an excellent way to look at this. As an adventure, an adventure that had a significant impact on all of their futures. She couldn’t help still feeling a bit nervous, though. “Rebecca,” Darcy whispers. 

“Yes?” 

“What are James and Peter talking about?” Darcy whispers back. 

Rebecca chuckles. “I’m not going to divulge their secrets. You’re going to have to ask Bucky yourself.”

Darcy pouts. “Fine.”

It’s another few minutes before Darcy hears the backdoor shut, but when James doesn’t come to find her, she decides to find him. He ends up being on the porch. Darcy takes a second to admire the many jack o’ lanterns that are decorating the porch. Her aunts, Monica, and the twins had gone to town, carving them into many different faces. Darcy smiled at how each pumpkin was completely different. She decides to try and use her magic to light them. She focuses on the thought of flame and flicks her hand up, a bit surprised when a flame appears on the tip of her index finger. 

“Sweet,” Darcy whispers. She then aims at one of the jack o’ lanterns and sends the flame to light the candle inside. The flame jumps from her finger to the candle with a woosh. Darcy smiles. “Yes!” She says. James chuckles and watches as she goes down the line, lighting each pumpkin. 

Once they’re all lit, James approaches her. “It’s time.”

Darcy nods. It was getting dark, and they’d need to leave soon. 

———

Rebecca meets up with the two of them when they get back inside. Without talking, the three of them set about turning out all the lights on the first floor of the house. When that’s done, they head upstairs to get ready. Rebecca heads to her room, and Darcy and James head to their shared room. The nervousness that Darcy had been experiencing earlier was now turning into excitement. She knew that James’ mother had packed them clothes for the time period they’d be going to, and she couldn’t wait to see what was in there. 

As they unpacked and threw on the period era undergarments, and James some tight leather pants that Darcy kept getting distracted by. She’d already put Aoife’s earring on and found a small jewelry box amongst the clothes. She carefully opens it up and finds a beautiful ring that has an inscription on the inside. It looks to be in Gaelic, and Darcy can’t read it. She walks over to James. 

“Hey, your mom included this ring with the clothes. What does the engraving say?” Darcy asks. 

James gently takes the ring from her and reads out loud, “My whole heart for my whole life.” He then takes her hand and puts the ring on her ring finger. Darcy can’t help the smile that blossoms on her face from the gesture. 

“That’s beautiful.”

“It is. We need to hurry, though.”

“True.”

James hands her the chess piece and then a book. “This will help us find our way.”

Darcy looks at the book. It’s ancient; she turns the pages until she finds the title page and reads it, “Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlowe?” She asks, her brows knit together.

“Yes. My good friend Kit. I remember the night Kit wrote it. It was during a time when it was hard to find creatures to trust.” James stares off into the distance as he says this. “I lost the chess piece to him on All Souls Night over a bet. Every year, a bunch of us would meet at a house I own in Oxfordshire, near a village called Woodstock. We’d get together on the Catholic Holy Days. You know? All Saints and All Souls?” James stands up, and Darcy nods as her eyes track down his body, admiring the pants. 

_ Focus, Darcy _

She thinks over what he’s saying as she meets his eyes. “We’re going to London then?” She asks. 

James smiles, “Yes. To be precise, 1590.”

“Describe the room for me.” Darcy says.

“The sitting room has a large fireplace built out of handmade brick; the portrait of Rebecca that I have at my house in Connecticut was above the fireplace there. Bookcases lined the left side of the room, and an ornate desk was against the wood-paneled wall on the right.”

“What does it smell like?”

“Roasting meat, burning wood from the fireplace, beeswax from the candles and lavender.”

“Why lavender?”

“It kept the linens smelling fresh.”

Darcy smiles, trying to visualize. 

Rebecca comes barging into the room; all dressed up in 16th-century clothes. “Sorry to ruin this sweet moment, but Sam texted, and we need to go right away. The Congregation will be here at any moment.”

“Okay, yes. I’m ready.” Darcy says to both of them. “Are you guys good?” They nod, and the three of them take position—Darcy in the middle with the other two on each of her sides. Darcy shoves the book and chess piece under her arm before grasping each of their hands. She hoped her hands weren’t sweaty. She took a deep breath. “Okay, now remember, do not let go, no matter what.”

“Sure thing, sweetheart,” James says, turning to give her a lopsided smile. 

“You got this,” Rebecca says excitedly. Darcy appreciates their trust in her. 

“When I tell you to lift your foot just like we’ve practiced,” Darcy says. The other two hum affirmatives. “It’s time. Now!” At the very moment the three of them lift their feet, downstairs they can hear what sounds like a mild explosion. Darcy gasps but hangs on to James and Rebecca’s hands, and then they slip out of time.

It’s difficult, the hardest trip Darcy has attempted. She hangs on to James and Rebecca for dear life as the objects she’s carrying guide her to the path she needs. There are so many different ways they can go, but Darcy is focusing on where the objects are leading. She imagines the fireplace, Rebecca’s portrait, and the smells of beeswax and lavender. The path comes more and more in focus, but there’s still the feeling of time wanting to drag her in completely different ways. Until finally, she knows she’s on the right path, and then her feet are suddenly touching the hard ground, and she’s tripping a little bit, her eyes opening. The smells that James had described hit her hard. She spots the portrait of Rebecca over the brick fireplace; it’s more beautiful than she imagined. Candles light the room on gold sconces spaced evenly along wood-paneled walls. 

Darcy gulps, eyes wide, “We’re not in Kansas anymore,” she whispers. 

She did it. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading! Please comment to let us know what you thought! We’re planning on doing a fic that follows season 2 once that comes out.
> 
> Follow me on Tumblr [Wheresarizona](http://wheresarizona.tumblr.com/)


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